Vice Hero
by randomcheerio
Summary: A nearing comet brings with it the turn of the millennia and an unexpected passenger. The people of Gaia see it as a sign of good luck; they couldn't have been more wrong. Reality crashes right in the center of Midgar. FF7 semi-OC/SI. Focuses on world and character building.
1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

_AN - Short story, I graduated! Sadly, I lost most of my work. I have most of my notes though, so we back to the grind boys. In compensation, here's a prologue. It's not much, but there's going to be much more in the coming days. Cheers_

 **Vice Hero**

ARC 1 - Welcome to Midgar

Chapter 0 - Prologue

I awoke to the sounds of screaming and an all-encompassing burning sensation.

For one paralyzing and painful second, I wondered if I was trapped in some hellish nightmare. I wasn't feeling burning in the conventional sense—that would've been too much of a blessing. Instead, it felt like my skin had been stripped off and salted, and then dipped in bleach for good measure. It was a mind-numbing pain.

Nothing felt right or _real_. The only sensation I felt was the feeling that my nerves had been _seared_ and were sizzling just underneath the surface of my skin. Everything else was too painful, too strange to describe. My eyesight was plagued with images superimposing themselves over everything. My mind reeled from the sensations trying to focus on anything else. I wondered if I was having a nightmare. What was real? Was I in the middle of some lake, or was I in a baseball stadium? I tried to garner a sense of detachment to flee from the alien sensations.

It didn't work.

A beat later I began clawing at myself and adding to the screams already at play in response to the stimulation overload. Strange, heavy liquid filled my mouth as soon as I started screaming—bringing with it a new wave of mind-numbing agony. I couldn't handle the sensation that it brought and everything turned a dim shade of grey. It wouldn't be right to say that I passed out, more of everything else got dimmer and more distant.

The new mindset brought a spike of fear that shot through me. It shunted the creeping stupor that was upon me off. I wasn't sure what was going on, or what had happened, but with the spike of fear came a moment of lucidity. I couldn't pass out here.

 _I had to get away._

I promptly tried to flail around. To my surprise, nothing happened despite my efforts. My body was unresponsive to what I wanted it to do. A headache was forming that I was intensely aware of, and I was very aware of everything happening to my body. The limbs were shorter than what I was used to, but I didn't worry about it. A surge of panic flooded through me upon realizing my lack of control and coordination over my body.

My throat burned just as deeply as the rest of me when the liquid filled it. I spluttered as much of it out as I could. The searing pain was seeping inside of me and eating away. The introduction of more pain let me see through the ghost images plaguing me and I became positive that I was slowly sinking into the strange colored lake. My eyes widened in surprise—not by my own volition.

After realizing this my arms flailed desperately scrambling for purchase. Somehow, I managed to catch onto something. I felt disconnected through the whole process—I was slowly realizing that my actions weren't my own. Another surge of fear went through me when I realized what was going on.

I wasn't in control—but I was aware.

The panic from realizing my lack of control spiked further. I _needed_ to be in control. I knew that as surely as I knew something strange was going on. The body I was in responded to my fear and started flailing more violently. It slowly dragged it's head out of the heavy liquid and took in huge gulping breaths. I felt relief flood through the body. It was perhaps the strangest thing so far, being forced to feel emotions not my own. I focused on something other than the fact I had even _less_ control than I thought, ignoring signals from the body. The bluish-green liquid seemed like mercury with how it was shifting around as if it had a mind of its own.

Screaming dragged me out of my thoughts. It sounded strange and distorted. I focused on _why_ that was—only to feel my ears start burning the next second. The question answered itself it seemed.

I was worried that I hadn't realized that the screaming had stopped from when I first became aware. I listened to the drawn out scream slowly taper off. It was now eerily quiet and all I could hear were the shuddering breaths I had no control over. The body was now trembling, but managed to hold itself above the water on whatever was grabbed.

I wanted to look for the source of the screaming.

Instead, the head turned and looked at what had saved my life.

The eyes quickly trailed down the arm to see it hooked deeply through a rusty girder. With horror, I realized that the body wasn't holding itself up—it was impaled and unable to sink down. This is why I needed to be in control, I wouldn't have panicked and made things worse. I was slowly getting used to the pain, but I felt the body going into shock staring at its injuries.

I watched the blood pooling in the strangely glowing liquid, trying to rouse the body with spikes of emotions. The water almost seemed to be lapping it up eagerly. The dark blood mixing strangely with the bright bluish-green liquid. I didn't know how long I was mentally trapped clinging on—staring numbly down into the water at this point—but my attempts to do something were unsuccessful. They almost seemed too tired to do anything other than to simply latch on.

I was starting to feel distant and sluggish as I felt the body further shut down. I had a sudden impression that if I wanted to let go, I wouldn't need to deal with any of this. That I would disappear. That I could just be replaced with a thought.

It pissed me off.

That impression made me cling on even tighter to the shred of consciousness that I had. I wanted to know what was going on before I went and died. I needed to figure out what was going on. I wasn't dead yet. I would hold on for as long as I could. I was a tenacious bastard—especially with spite as a motivator.

I clung on, unable to even twitch a muscle. Eventually, the silence was replaced by frantic chatter. I still felt the pain, but it was like the body didn't give a damn anymore and accepted whatever fate came to it. I was itching to scream, to fight, anything to get me out of this situation. I couldn't accept this situation with no control or say about anything.

I _needed_ to find out what was going on.

I _needed_ to find out what I was missing.

All I could do was stare through locked eyes at the situation I found myself in, unable to blink.

Several steel beams were sticking out of the lake. The shore was lined with pale looking dirt and random chunks of warped metal. I couldn't piece together where I was from it. I had no memory of how I got here. My strangely detached mind laughed at myself for falling asleep in such a shitty place. I felt the body start trembling—slowly realizing that it was shaking in a very strange and unsettling way. It almost felt like I was vibrating. The liquid began churning.

The frantic talking from above me paused, then came to a fevered pitch. It was almost to the point where I could make out the words being said. I heard a loud splash near me, several painful drops splashed on me, and then suddenly someone grabbed onto the arm that I was staring at—yanking it out from the steel girder with ease.

I'm forced to look at the sight of mangled flesh and protruding bones. Mentally taking a deep breath and forcing myself to be calm. Freaking out would only make my situation worse. The heart of the body was beating erratically, but I stayed calm through some miracle.

I heard something garbled, and then I felt the myself being slowly pulled out from the liquid. Whoever saved me laughs, then shouts towards the others talking along the shore.

"See! Someone was still alive in all this mess. I'll be up in a sec—stay there and I'll sort this all out. I told you, SOLDIER's got this!."

I can barely make out what was said everything was so distorted. The words sounded strange as if I wasn't hearing them myself. He—because it was definitely he—started dragging me towards the shore. My neck tilts and angles just enough to get a good look at the one rescuing me.

Black spiky hair, blue jumpsuit, and an eager looking face. The person also sported a massive blade on his back. The sight sent a deep lance of pain into my head looking at them. The person seemed _so_ familiar. As if I've seen them before. I could almost piece together something.

Something _important_.

The liquid promptly reached out—grabbing onto me almost eagerly—and does it's damn best to pull me under.

It sure surprised the hell out of my rescuer if the yelp was anything to go by. The person in this lake from hell with me gives a frantic tug. Failing to find purchase and pull me away from the approaching wave. They end up throwing themselves off balance and we both go tumbling.

As soon as my head submerged things turned into rapidly stranger sensations—along with the dimming of reality around me.

 _M͈̥̕͢͞ỵ̱ ̲͉̥̞̣̰ͅt̡̜͇͖̘̰̟̼͡u̡͕̻̣̣͝r̶̮̺̼͈̜n҉̶͢ͅ.̸͕̩̳̪̱̱͉͖͘͞_

That impression that I could let go—that I would be replaced—vanished.

In its place all of the sensations that I was feeling became more intense—leaving me stunned at the sudden shift. A brain-splitting headache quickly formed. My body—which felt strange before—was now positively alien. I stared up towards the surface as my mind seemed to slowly dwindle down to a single point and slowly blinked.

My eyes felt like they were melting. Images played out at a blinding speed.

I gained flashes of insight in this semi-aware state.

Suddenly, I'm on the shore.I passed out and don't remember how I got here.

A group of people were frantically looking over my 'rescuer' who had a dazed look on his face. His hair was matted down and covered in the strange liquid. I instantly realized someone was doing compressions on my chest. _My_ chest. I realized that we were now out of the painful liquid, but my body still stung. The point I could focus on was slowly expanding.

All of the soldiers were showing exhaustion on their faces and dripping wet—as if they just fought a battle. I was alive though, even if there were several rescuers on the ground not moving.

I was lifted and carried off after several of them recuperated.

A group of kids enters my vision looking worriedly off to the side as I was carried away. A girl with red hair and blue eyes was looking on with horror and confusion clear on her face. I still couldn't move, but I was carried through streets which were paved and had lamps. A far contrast to what was before. There were people thronged in the street, all making way for our group. All looking on shocked at the sorry sight of us. Kids mutely cheered at the sight of the soldiers—only to grow sober at the feeling the group emanated.

The kids were rushed indoors as we passed. What looked like vendors paused mid-shout to stare at us as the group rushed past.

No comprehensive sound reached my ears in this strange feeling world. Everything seemed colorless and fading. I was getting tired, but I fought to stay awake. The ghost visions started taking precedent again and overlaid themselves over everything I saw. I wanted to look up, but my neck was feeling strangely thick and heavy. I wanted to see the group that had saved me.

I couldn't.

I blearily realized we were being shuffled inside a gate, only for me to be jostled and given the opportunity to look at the base of a massive tower.

Things were getting darker. I could feel myself drifting off further as sleep was tugging at the edge of my mind. Something I instinctively understood couldn't be fought. I was too busy trying to piece together what my other senses were telling me. They were too strange and felt alien, nothing like what it felt before.

I was carried inside the front door of the tower to be met with doctors. They all looked so much _bigger_ than me—and it felt _wrong_ being this small. I wanted to know what was going on. I was handed off before I could dwell further on what was going on. It was getting harder to think.

Now we were somewhere resembling a food court. Bright neon signs hung over storefronts all along the wall that hurt my burning eyes. The lights roused me just enough to notice someone get into my face. I noticed a crowd staring behind him. They said some strange words that I couldn't understand. I could vaguely see the movement of lips and partially hear what was said.

I hung limply on someone's arm as we got onto an elevator. I was feeling weaker the longer I fought off sleep. It was to the point I was worried I was going to blackout. I was already having trouble paying attention. All it would take is one heavy-lidded blink to send me off.

I was feeling boneless. I held no reservations that if I wasn't being held up, I would collapse and sleep flat on the ground. We stepped out of an elevator—when had we gotten on that—and all activity on the floor stopped. People turned and looked on at the commotion. The person holding me shouted something, then gasped and let go of me—clutching their arms and starting to scream. Someone else quickly took his place. The moment passed and with a flurry of activity, I was ushered into a bed.

I was staring up at a tiled ceiling, unable to move, trapped in my body. I was distantly aware it wasn't _mine_ , but it felt _right_. I was too tired to think on it. Sleep was what I was needed. Some purpose I felt was instilled inside of me—something that I didn't quite understand. I was quickly shaking it off, but it was still there in the back of my mind.

A needle was driven into my arm. The feeling promptly vanished.

I dove deeper into the alien sensations that made up my body—trying to piece them together. I couldn't get anything to respond correctly and the ghostly visions were coming full force now. The were prominent even through closed eyelids, confusing me further.

My body slowly began locking up. My mind was _screaming_ at me that something was wrong. It was slowly quieting down as the chemicals coursed through me, until my thoughts were just a whisper at the back of my mind.

I was tired. I should be terrified. I should be trying to figure out what was going on and what was happening, where I was—but I was slowly drifting off.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something.


	2. Chapter 1- Apophenia Apprehension

_AN- So where do we get started. Edited first chapter, final draft. Check bio to keep up to date._

 **Vice Hero**

Arc 1 - Welcome to Midgar

Chapter 1 - Transposed Troubles

 **͉̝I̶̛̤̗̖̱̺t̻͕̰͓͚̦̻'̴̱̤͙̦͕͘͝s̵̨̗̹̣̱ ̯̫̟t̳̟͔̳̱̹i̭̱̣͉̟̞̯̦͞͝ͅm̴͏͙̱̰̣͎̰͇e̠̟̠̱̰ ́͠҉̻̦͚͍f̨͖̪͇̗̩͜o͏͔̳r̶̵͎̬̹̥̱̠ ̼̞͎͖͚͚̕y̵̩͓o̟̭͝ṵͅͅ ͎̩̝͎͓̺ţ̛͇̥̲̠͘ǫ͇̯̗͓̦̬̻̫͘ ͎̹̦͍̟͈̭́͠w̧̤͎̻̼ạ̢͓̙̬ķ̫̯̼͝e̦̳̰͎̬̗͉ͅ ̶̺̩̫͎͙̻͚͕v̴̩̯̻͔̰̯̘̀e͍̹͘̕ś̡͍̗̻͚s̵̝̤̫e̸̜͇̕l̯̺̗̹̼̗̗͎͝͡ͅ**

My eyes snapped open, lazily scanning the foggy room for the owner of the strange sounding voice. The disorientation from just waking combined with lack of glasses made it impossible to make sense of the blurry surroundings. It was also surprisingly difficult to fight off the drowsiness that seemed to pervade my mind.

Confusingly, my thoughts began drifting back towards the voice that woke me. Specifically on what about it was so strange. It was hard to get it out of my head since it sounded so distinct, almost as if it was lingering. The voice had the unique property of blending authority with familiarity while also sounding noticeably foreign, but there was something _strange_ about it that I couldn't place.

I idly wondered just _how_ it had woken me up when I was asleep moments ago. Usually, something like a voice couldn't wake me up until I was fully rested. Usually, it took something big and exceptionally loud to wake me. It seemed that this time was different. I wanted to find who woke me, congratulate them on accomplishing the impossible, and then tell them to never do it again.

But now that I looked, it seemed that nobody was around me. _'Who woke me up then?'_ A frown formed as I began trying to puzzle out what was happening through sluggish thoughts.

I had just woken up. That much was obvious, but there was something _else_ , something even _more_ obvious that I was missing. It was as if I'd forgotten something important—though I couldn't say what for the life of me—and that singular feeling put off all notions of me going back to sleep, at least until I figured this puzzle out.

I looked over everything that I could see again but with a more critical eye this time. I quickly noticed strobing red lights at the bottom of a door leaking in. Worry and apprehension started to flare up. How had I missed that the first time? Blinking red lights were _never_ a good sign. The nagging feeling of missing something important hadn't gone away though, and at this moment I trusted my gut more than my groggy mind.

' _Alright, so just what's going on here?'_ The thought felt murky, just like the rest of me. I blinked forcefully several times in an effort to clear the mental cobwebs only to have nothing change.

Not able to piece together a coherent answer to my own question, I checked my hazy surroundings again. I was still all alone save for a few blurry objects and red lights. _'No way that I imagined that voice though.'_

Now that I thought about the voice again, it was almost as if I could hear it. Almost like a distant echo, but mentally. _'Something about waking up…'_ A thought tickled at the edge of my mind, and then the answer suddenly came to me. _'Oh,_ _ **It's time for you to wake**_ _.'_ I jolted as an alien sensation crawled over me.

The words began repeating over and over in my head, **waking** me in some supernatural and deeply unsettling way. Drowsiness and worry were shunted away in favor of the command **wake** , forcing me into a hazy and blissful trance.

I became distantly aware of myself, but in that moment I was too focused on the foreign feeling that was coursing through me to worry. It was like the best aspects of sex, coffee, and drugs blended together. I ignored the screaming voice in the back of my mind telling me that something was very wrong. The feeling was similar to a ludicrously powerful upper, supplying me with unnatural and artificial energy.

I realized something in that instance—I was _alive_ in an inexplicable way that I hadn't been before _._ I lost myself briefly, having no thoughts other than how much I enjoyed the feeling, but then a strange sense of _wrong_ imposed itself over the filter—dragging me out of my trance and sobering me up.

As I came down from the strange high, the first thing I realized was that I was scared shitless and shaking in fear. Any trace of the energy vanished as a dawning horror gripped me. The ecstasy left as quickly as terror came, sobering me up and putting me on edge.

' _What the fuck was that?_ ' No answer was forthcoming. I wasn't quite sure how I would feel if something did answer back. The near religious experience was making me question what was real and what wasn't.

I was fully awake now, at least.

I waited several minutes in anticipation, replaying the short-lived experience over and over in my mind. It didn't help that the sudden shift from _bliss_ to _wrong_ left me feeling drained and unbalanced. The abrupt change made being conscious uncomfortable, allowed paranoia to set in, and had me feeling awkward in my own skin.

I paused, still disorientated from the experience, and idly noticed that the fogginess of my vision _still_ hadn't cleared. I tried to adjust my body, but was met by a general feeling of numb. I took a calming breath, feeling the shaking subside momentarily, and then tried to move again—receiving the same result as last time.

All sense of calm left me. I _hated_ feeling stuck and helpless. Panic settled in deep.

I tried to scramble, flail, twitch, and adjust all at the same time—anything to get the blood flowing and me moving again. I became consumed with the desire to _get out_ , straining to _move_ anything other than my face _._ Nothing happened, absolutely no movement at all. I couldn't move my body from the neck down in the slightest.

After several minutes of panic I calmed down. Several seconds of frantic searching made me realize two very unsettling things.

The first: I didn't recognize my surroundings. The room seemed innocent enough as I took it in—white room, tiled floors, and a desk in the corner gave the feeling of a sterile and professional environment. _'So most likely a hospital or something along the line. Maybe this is some kind of accident or bad trip then. It has to be.'_ I hopefully thought.

I released a shaky breath in an attempt to calm my frayed nerves. My breath sounded hollow and strange because of the other realization—something that I should've noticed much, much earlier.

The second realization: I was floating submerged up to my neck in numbing liquid inside of a capsule. The fact that I woke up in a position other than lying down should've set off more alarms. I slept like a horse and hadn't realized upon waking.

The capsule I was in explained my foggy surroundings. I was looking through thick glass and the liquid was inhibiting my ability to feel or move for some medical reason, giving more credit to the bad accident theory. _'Just what happened to me?'_ The question seemed to rebound itself in my head, not unlike the voice. It made me irrationally angry not knowing what was going on. I couldn't help but want to _know_ what the hell was happening to me.

Though angry at myself for not realizing more upon waking, I felt marginally better after piecing together _some_ of what was going on. No relief came from the better understanding of my predicament like I expected—the feeling of _wrong_ and missing something still hadn't disappeared.

 **T̸̸̼̰̞̞̘͢h͓͉͖̫͙̲̼̥e̠͚͖̣ ̩̹͓́͜m̬͚̜͖a̷̵̺̘̜͚̣ǹ̗̖̯̼̻̠̥͔͜t̢͈͙͙͉̥͖̱͇̪l̸̷̯̖̣̱̤̙̙ͅe̙̝̣̜ ̢̡̳͇̪̀ò̭̖̰̝͈̘̻͕f̴͙̭̻̭̤̲͓͟ͅ ̭̦͈̻̬h̦̤̳͈̬͎̪e̵҉̫̻͚͖r̡͓̬̣̼o̧̩̫̫̺̫ ͉h̡͙̙̹͕̫̼͝ͅa̷̧̙̖̞͇̹̥͔͞s̵̡̢͎̦͕ ͏̼̯̞̱̠b̢̗̝̝̳͍͇e̦̭̭̫͈͝ͅc̵̵͈͍̩͜o̸̩͇͜m̵̪̣e̗̹̟̜̲͙͔͜ ͟͝҉͓͉͖͕ṵ̻̜͍̰̝͔n̢̰͚̞̙͓̘̺͈͉c҉͎̙̜̤̞̝̖̩̣͞l̛͍̠̖̤͇̰̮a̜̖͎͡i̟͙̱̤̲̻̫͡m̷͟͏̜͕̖̪̗̫̯̻̱e̹̫͖̬d̵̥͉̼͚͚̩͘ ̶̨̮̘̜w̢͍̯̣͇̹͓̞̗̘i͉͜͢t̝̠͖̬̙͍ͅh̞̭̰͈͖̮̳̙͙ ̧̞͕̺t̵̸̮͓͉̪͚̤̯͖̳͢h͎̠̠͎̹͔͢è͔͉͟ ̷̧̳̺͙̖̝̗͖̼̕ḑ̺̞͈̩e̢̫͕a̴̤̟̗̙͙͍t̼̭̯̫̭̀h͕̩̦͙͠ ͞҉̸̙͈͓̣̘̣ͅo̞͘f̷͏̢̭̹̘̱͇͍ ͉͓̥͚ị̷̜̼̺̣̞t̸̶̛̺̪̝̰'͘͏҉̠̰̦̘̘͈̬̙s҉̸̱̲͙ͅ ̝̙̦̦͠͠h̡̲̱̖̭͖͚̙̗̟͢o̴̰̜̺̳̣͚͝l͓̰̕d̫̬͚̥͙͎̀͜e̙̘̫̮͜r̵̡͎̗͈̭̲̭̱̕**

I froze, then thought over the new information. _'Okay, the same angelic voice, in my head, that seems to be just sitting there. Nothing strange about that,'_ I warily thought, wondering if I was still sane.

Something magical and _wrong_ was happening. It wasn't something mundane like drugs that make me feel magical. On one hand, I was strangely excited. I was being addressed by something powerful enough to send me into ecstasy with _words—_ though it felt more like a mass email more than being personally talked to—and I was excited about the prospect of magic.

With the voice once again ringing in the back of my head came a small compulsion to **want** , or something similar. Maybe ambition. The **want** to what, I wasn't sure. After a minute of tense anticipation waiting for another feeling to rush through me, the voice slowly faded away—confirming that magic was in play.

Though the voice had manifested itself in my head, I still couldn't help but look around for the source. My eyes darted around the distorted room, looking for something to pin the mental intrusion on. I wanted something to blame, something to focus all my frustration on. I was feeling vindictive from the terror and panic of having my emotions tampered with. I figured that if the voice was so powerful, then it didn't need to bother with me. _'Casually messing with biology and thoughts. Playing God. Summoning heroes. I hate the...heavenly sounding woman_. _'_

My blood froze in my veins as I realized what that could signify. Had I been summoned by a God? Was that what caused this fate? Maybe, though the address seemed too impersonal to be directed at just me. _'If she could so easily change something such as feelings and emotion, some of the most intimate parts to a person, then what else could've been changed? What else was edited? What's different with me?'_ I frantically began to search asI fought down rising panic. _'What's changed?'_ I took a deep breathand started with the last thing I recalled before waking up. It was the best place to start. The most sensible.

It was strange looking back over the memory—unnaturally vivid and bright. The colors seemed slightly off, almost as if I was looking through a different set of eyes. Already it had me on edge. It didn't even look convincingly real it was so obviously edited.

It was a memory of me staring up into the night sky, watching a distant comet with my father. We both joked that not many things got more manly than stargazing, then focused back on the scene. We settled on sharing the hobby together when we weren't both busy with work. Stargazing was something of a recent pastime—all that information added up, so nothing unusual there. I couldn't quite place what was wrong from a casual recollection of the memory.

' _Where was I when that happened?.'_ I...couldn't remember. Again, it wasn't so strange. I beat down the rising panic. _'Stargazing is something you can do anywhere, nothing to get worried about,'_ I tried to convince myself. _'Was there something off about the sky?'_ No, nothing from what I could tell, just the one comet that seemed to constantly catch my eye and call to me. Everything else felt real, if slightly off. _'Was my father really there?'_ Something was off about that statement. My dad was definitely there, but...but...who was my dad?

Where before my blood froze, it now boiled.

Personal details were missing. That was the conclusion that I came up with looking further and further back. Disgust at whatever brought me here welled up. Some things were completely blank and left as holes in my head. Nothing dear to me was easy to recall. I had a dog but wasn't able to remember what type it was or even the name. A job, but no description came forth.

' _What the hell is this? Some lousy attempt to cut all of my ties so I'm more amenable to the voice's whims? All because it wants me to play hero?'_ I was furious about the prospect of something being in my head, altering memories and telling me what to do. My mouth felt strange, and I offhandedly realized I was tasting blood.

Something had taken my life and control of my body away. There were small fragments left, but they were things I didn't care about. Things such as how I felt during a certain situation or scenario, or my thoughts about a book. I tried to reason out _why_ it would take away my memories, but leave my personality and what made me, _me_ , but I couldn't make sense of it.

 **Ţ̘̬̪̤̹h̹͍̖̘̞e̵̩͈͘ ̬̙̞̻͎̥ç̷̼̺̩͇̰͘ͅa̟̕͟l̡̜̙l̩͍̪̞͙̪͎͚ ̢̫̖͍̜͙̱̰̤͚ḫ̷̟̪̜̮͚̤͙̀a̴̙̤͍̺̭̰̬̮s̞͓̙̦͉̝͓͇ ̶̤̳̱̮̪̪͙̹͡b̛̲̯̻̼͚̜̹̩͘ḛ̤͝e̴̫͘n̻͚̤̖̤̪ ̡͎̳͚̼̣̞ͅs̗̭͞e̮͈̣̝n̥̯t̵̢̩͕͓̤̝̠̯ ̶̷̶̹͎̝̩̪͖̟o̖̦̙͔̭̣͢͞u̹̤͠t̸̬̦̺̙́**

The growing confusion was replaced instantly with surging anger as I heard the voice. The compulsion to **come** that came with the voice was drowned in my anger.

' _Fuck you!'_ I mentally retorted at the invasive voice, not caring if it could hear me or not. _'You think you can get away with giving me no choice in the matter? You took my life from me. You think you have any right to tell me what to do?'_ I tried screaming out, to curse whatever had sent me here and denounce it, but my submerged throat couldn't make the correct sounds.

Again, I strained to move. The rage that was there before flared up. I wanted _**out**_ _._ The numb sensation that encompassed me gave way to a painful burning in my gut that expanded outward, encompassing my body—then entirely dissipate along with my anger. I half-heartedly cursed, wondering what just happened. Strange things just seemed to keep piling up.

With my anger gone, I was feeling drained and foolish. Some of it returned, but it was a candle's worth to what was before. Now, I just wanted to know what was going on. The liquid that I was in had warmed slightly with the burning, but nothing else happened.

I froze, then paled. Any anger I had quickly gave way to embarrassment. I felt blood rush towards my face. _'Did I just get so angry I pissed myself?'_

No answer was forthcoming thankfully.

I was extremely worried about my mental state because of that outbreak. Was I compromised? _'Sure, I have a right to be angry, but how influenced was I?'_ The fretting began as I took calming breaths. I needed to regain some measure of control before I lost it. All I seemed able to do was scramble to recognize problems.

I didn't like that.

I began trying to understand more. _'I'm usually not one to get angry like this. Has there been anything else that changed along with my memories?'_ I thought back, trying to piece together what I could through hazy thoughts. _'No,'_ I realized. From what I could remember, little had changed of my personality.I started to feel slight irritation over the simple fact that I couldn't figure it out instantly. _'Another fact that something weird is going on. I usually prefer to pick at a problem methodically and enjoy the challenge instead of getting frustrated like this. No, something else is going on, something other than the voice speaking to me in my head,'_ I thought with rising frustration.

It made itself known as it bubbled against me—giving me the answer I needed.

' _The liquid.'_ I grimaced. Something about it was messing with me. I didn't know what, but it was the only answer. I was irrationally angry and sluggish, something that the voice changed.

 **I̷͈̦̩̬͟ͅt̲̙́͟'̶̨̝̥̞̱̣͎̞̲̺s̲͔̻̫̼͟͞ ̝̩͘͢t̛͉̱͖̠̬͍̳͡i̛͠͏͉͉̻̙͈̩͕̫m̴̥̲̭͚̘̭̳̠͍͞e̝̮ ̲̱̼̬́f̞̦̥̮̭̘̣̪̖ǫ̤͖͞r̢̳͖̹̲͓̻ ̦̥͕̲͕̟͝y̻͉̦̱͚̗̞̹o̠͈̤̲͢ͅͅu̵̷̡̩̭͖͎̣̹͔̗ ̢̢̦̥̥͕͇͍̥͘t̵̸̘̬͍̼o̖̳̰̖͝͝ͅ ̳̝̹͢͟p̨̛̠͎͕̙r̦̠̬͔̕o̵̗̗͔̼̟̟͎v̶͏͇͇e̬̲͇̩͕̯̱ ҉̨͎̺͈͔̳̮y̴̧͎̰̙o͚̞̜̰ų̳̫͉̞r̘̼̥͍̥̮̞̙͎ ͚͕̙̭̤́ẃ̢͈̬̥̩̫̮̼̻ó͖͇̰̺͈͘r̝̠ṱ̰̞͕̳̻͘ḩ̶̹̭̟͔͈̠̭**

This time, I suppressed both the anger that washed over me along with the overwhelming compulsion to **prove**.

Shattering could be heard in the background. It caught my attention, but there was nothing that I could do about it but worry, so I put it aside. I centered myself until the voice fully faded from my mind. _'What had it said so far?'_ What could I learn from the situation? What was the motive of it? I couldn't just flounder and try to keep up, I needed to think ahead. _'It woke me up, let me know a hero died, that a call had been sent, then this.'_ I carefully avoided thinking about _it_. _It_ had been the strongest compulsion by far, muted as it was. I wasn't going to take any chances and dwell on it.

The pieces of information were falling together. I was slowly building an image of what was happening, and I didn't like what I saw, but it would be best to come to terms with it as soon as I could. I would rather take the harsh sting of reality instead of being left in the maddening unknown.

I'd been taken to another world.

Where? I had no idea. How? Again, no idea. That particular question gave way to others, leaving nothing but sour thoughts in my head. I didn't know if I died, was taken, or even summoned—there was no memory of any transition at all.

Waking up in the capsule with no idea where I was and the fact that I had edited memories, made the idea of me being on another world seem plausible. I also didn't know any medical procedures that boiled down to throw the patient in the magical medical liquid until they heal or hear voices. Magic words—because that's all they could've been—were the deciding factor that made me begrudgingly accept that I wasn't on earth anymore.

I was reasonably sure there was no magic, no way to force people to _feel_ something, and no way to insert voices and compulsions straight into people's heads back home. Sure, governments, ex-girlfriends, movie directors, and big pharma have come close—but none were on the level I experienced.

Strangely enough, it was the cut personal ties that made it easier to accept and face my situation, which pissed me off. After all, if there's nothing that's left behind there's no hesitation to move forward. It made me angry enough that I wanted to ignore what was said and rebel against it. I'd find my own way back if I had to. If there was magic, then anything could be possible.

As I started coming to terms with what my life had become—and if I was okay with just _how_ that came about—I heard a large commotion, larger than the breaking glass had been. It was the sound of fighting and battle, the type that brought forth instincts of fight or flight to the surface. My hair stood on end as I began hearing animalistic roars. The sound was echoing strangely because of the glass capsule I was trapped in, but it was still loud enough to hurt my ears.

' _The timing of this is too convenient,'_ I realized. ' _Loud roars, heavy thuds, and what sounds like monsters ripping through walls. It could be an attack. No way that it's a mere coincidence between what was said and what's happening now. It sounds like a warzone out there,'_ I put together. Explosions, gunshots, and heavy footsteps could be mutely heard through my glass barrier—the barrier that suddenly didn't seem nearly thick enough.

My capsule shook violently from one particularly nasty explosion. It rattled me and the liquid inside, shaking the both of us around like a mixed drink until I was dizzy enough to be sick. The only reason I wasn't was through sheer willpower and the desire to not be stuck floating in my own vomit.

Half an hour later, the commotion outside began quieting down. The sounds of the dying had also been silenced. There was the occasional short-lived clash, but they was nowhere near the level of battle before. I was suddenly left alone with my thoughts, which may not be my own.

I shivered, once again feeling strangely cold as I wondered about what fate awaited me.

I turned my thoughts away from that, focusing on what I thought happened. _'I'm pretty sure those were emergency lights when I first woke up. Maybe all of this was caused by a power outage or something else,'_ I weakly guessed; knowing that I was grasping at straws. It made sense in a way though, if there had been other...patients that'd gotten loose, I could see nothing good happening with the power out. Though that brought to question of what happened to the backup generators.

And it also didn't explain the voice, which seemed to center around everything. _'If other patients were feeling that, along with the other compulsions…'_ I didn't want to think about what happened out there. The screams were disturbing enough and made my imagination run wild.

Suddenly, a steady rhythm of gunshots began in the distance, breaking the silence and drawing me back to reality. Gunshots signified humans, or at least something smart enough to use guns. They were my opportunity out of here.

I was able to piece together plenty of information from just the sounds alone. There was one gunman with a heavy caliber gun firing one shot every forty-five seconds—at least until a dozen had been fired, and then it was either forty-six or forty-seven seconds. That was at _most_ a two second reload time. Very impressive. I wasn't much of a gun enthusiast, but I realized it was the sign of a professional.

It didn't dawn on me what was happening until I realized that the gunshots were steadily getting closer—forty-five seconds was plenty enough time to walk from one room to another if they were side by side. The gunman was going from room to room and firing a single well-placed bullet into an experiment or patient that was compromised by the voice. ' _This does seem like a black site facility where experiments happened regularly, especially with the animal roars and gunfire that I heard,'_ I paled, wondering just what the hell was going on here. Of course, as soon as I start figuring things out they just get stranger and stranger. Why was I woken up _here_ of all places and not summoned directly to the royal palace?

The painful sensation of burning came back with my growing panic, quickly replacing the numb with its warm embrace. _'I can't die until I figure out who brought me here. Not until I get my revenge.'_ I clung onto the rising sensation, figuring that it was better facing the prospect of death being able to feel.

With every gunshot I could feel my body flinch but not by my own volition. It was a natural reaction to loud noises brought on by my flaring panic. The painful sensation was growing to new heights. Still, I held it in, cultivating the burning sensation in my gut along with the feelings that returned to my body. I felt stiff and sore, and my skin burned slightly, but it was better than not feeling anything.

I began trying to scream, to call out, talk, anything that would let the gunman know I wasn't affected by either the strange liquid or the words spoken in my head. The methodical gunshots continued closer ticking like a metronome and uncaring of my attempts. _'Is this even a person, or is it some kind of killing machine?'_ This was nothing like the typical summoned to another world stories that I read—this was more akin to a horror story.

To my mounting horror, all sounds died as a whimper in my throat. The painful sensation crept deeper and tighter inside of me, twisting like a knife. It felt like a rash and sunburn mixed together, and then a good helping of bleach was thrown on it to spice things up. It was getting difficult to maintain focus and count down the seconds.

' _Not like this,'_ I thought, just as the door to my room swung open. That wasn't right, the gunman was here just seconds after firing the last shot over in the room next to mine. I couldn't tell if the mangled scream I heard had been a figment of my imagination, and I prefered not to find out.

Everything was distorted through the glass, and my mind was being distorted by my fear. I paused, looking to see if I could somehow dodge the incoming bullet—there was supposed to be thirty-two seconds until the next shot. I found that it was strangely easy to keep track of your approaching doom. Instead, the blurry figure moved towards the corner of the room, staying there for several seconds.

Suddenly, several hissing components unlatched on the outside of the capsule, startling me out of my funk. The air pressure dropped in the pod, making my ears pop and letting me take my first and possibly last breath of non-stale air. It smelled sterile, with a hint of gunpowder.

With peaking horror, I understood what was happening. _'The gunman's bullets can't penetrate the glass, they have to release each experiment before killing it.'_ Hope surged through me—intensifying the painful feeling. I could feel the burn digging in deeper—deep enough to _hurt_. This was my chance, something _clanked_ at the three-second mark.

It was then when I was unceremoniously dumped from the bottom of the capsule, I felt something _twist_. The painful sensation _flared_ and I was suddenly in agony. It stripped my thoughts of anything rational. The sensation encompassed me, _flared_ again _,_ and then I wasn't falling for half a second. Instead, I was stuck in my torment and liquid. I felt fresh air lick at my feet as terror gripped me, anticipating the shot.

That was all the time I needed apparently because when I hit the ground the sharp retort of gunfire didn't happen. I was staring up at a white tiled ceiling intermixed with thick wires and let out a loose and shaky breath that I didn't know I was holding in. I was fucking _alive._ The forty-five-second mark was up. The killing machine had deviated. It could reason. Weak laughter escaped me, pooling in the back of my throat. I heard words spoken towards me, but couldn't understand them—I truly was in another world then, even if they did sound _so_ familiar... No, focus, I needed to show that I was aware, that I was human, but most importantly that I wasn't a mindless experiment.

"Ahhhhhh, Ahhhhhh." I internally winced at the primitive and childish sounding words—I _still_ had no control over my body and couldn't talk. I sounded more like a babbling child than a rational adult. It was degrading and humiliating.

Some more words were spoken towards me, but I didn't understand the other-worldly language. _'It doesn't seem like I have any cheat skills then. It's strange though, the words sound so very familiar.'_ I didn't know how to respond and mentally shrugged. _'Fuck it, it's not like I can say anything wrong or insulting anyways. Just need to show I'm non-threatening.'_

"Ohhhhh. Ugghhhhh," I gurgled out, doing my best to sound as innocent and puppy-like as I could.

My body started to cough in response to choking on my own saliva and the liquid that was in the capsule with me. _'Right, I'm laying on my back, unable to move. I'm going to die if I don't get any help,'_ I bitterly thought. I wasn't that worried though, someone else was here with me and able to save me. The liquid burned down my throat as it pooled in my lungs and shaking coughs started racking my body. Fear gripped me. Several seconds of agony went by and still nothing happened. _'Does the sick fuck just want to watch me choke to death because of my own, stupid, non-responsive body? Did I make a mistake? Are they some kind of sociopathic killer?'_

To my surprise and directly opposite of where my line of thought went, I felt strong hands turn me over onto my side. I grasped the opportunity and willed myself to throw up, tilting my head away from—' _is that blood? What the fuck?'_ That _was_ blood. _'Why is there blood in my vomit? That's... not a good sign,'_ I blearily noted.

I started getting dizzy from both the acidic smell and being so close to my own sick. The hands that turned me over reached into my mouth and stuck fingers down my throat, forcing me to heave out the rest of whatever had collected in my stomach. I inhaled sharply, gasping for fresh air as I threw up all over the hand that helped me. Muttering was heard and they promptly flicked their hands clean, splattering me with several numbing drops of the medical liquid that I was freed from. Then a quick, insensitive and awkward pat was given to the small of my back.

' _Killer turned nurse,'_ I grimly thought, feeling the calluses and barely restrained strength in their hands.

I was thankful for the help, and suddenly feeling leagues better now that I had most of whatever was making me sick out of my system. The liquid I'd been trapped in suddenly seemed a _lot_ more dangerous—more along the lines of bleach than medicine. Thankfully, I was starting to feel sensation return to my body now that I wasn't submerged in it. There being no lasting effect was probably as lucky as I was going to get.

The hands tugged me over to the nearest wall and propped me up. I drank in the sight of the room, eager to see everything in more detail, but quickly became disillusioned to gathering anything specific. It was a sterile white room with nothing in it asides from a florescent bulb hanging from the ceiling, a metallic desk, a dusty computer, and my capsule.

The capsule was hooked to heavy cables that took up most of the small room. Strangely, it was the lack of a chair that bothered me the most in the entire room. _'Why is there a desk, but no chair?'_ The thought turned itself over and over again in my mind. Repeating until I forcefully wrenched my attention away from it.

I focused away from the plain room and onto my savior. The man was in his late twenties or early thirties with black medium-length hair, wearing a black well-fitted suit, and carrying a bulky looking pistol in a side holster. He seemed the definition of a hitman or at least a very dangerous, very armed businessman The most notable thing about him was the singular red dot on his forehead. It seemed to be a tattoo of some sort because he seemed more Japanese than Indian. He seemed frustratingly familiar, much like the language—I just couldn't place it.

He pulled out a radio and began speaking into it, carefully watching me. I felt his eyes trace each of my twitches as I tried moving, so I turned my neck...up from my position against that wall and gave him a disarming smile—doing my best to convey 'don't kill me!' across the language barrier.

He grunted, received a response from the radio, then dragged me out to the hallway where I instantly tensed up because of the proof that the earlier carnage happened. The hallway was _demolished_ : rubble, broken doors, and bodies littered the hallway. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything threatening that I could see in the immediate vicinity—aside from the man in a suit. I relaxed and went back to trying to move as he propped me up against the wall facing my old room.

He set me down and made a vague 'stay' motion with his hand, followed by telling me what I assumed meant just that. He went inside of the room beside mine. Several seconds later I jumped from the sound of a gunshot.

A second later he walked out of the room and spared me a glance, then gave me a painful looking smile that had the hairs on the back of my neck raising and the blood in my body curdling. _'That doesn't look like a person that smiles often, or at all. Way too forced—that looks like it physically hurt him!'_ The awful visage he made was quickly replaced by his usual stern expression that looked much more at home, much to my relief.

He unceremoniously continued down the hallway at his steady rhythm. I felt warmth spread through me as I realized the time between each of his shots was now forty-six seconds—to him, I was worth a whole second to check on. I wasn't quite sure why I felt pride from that, but as I sat there twitching and grinning I couldn't help but feel that things were looking up.

I had a dangerous killer looking after me, and I was going to get out of this place and hopefully get some answers. Most importantly of all—there were no voices in my head or compulsions! I could see myself enjoying my stay in this world where there could be catgirls to tame, monsters to fight, and magic to learn. _'Though how useful would magic be in a world with guns? No, what's important is finding out how I got here and to make whoever is responsible_ _ **pay**_ _.'_ I felt much better setting a goal for my future—plain and cliche as it was, I needed something to keep me level-headed and focused.

The methodical rhythm of gunshots continued for a good amount of time, almost lulling me to sleep. I focused inwardly to rouse myself, trying to figure what felt off about me. That feeling that I was missing something glaringly obvious still hadn't went away, almost like a sixth sense.

Something was different about me. There were little inconsistencies that I was starting to notice now that I had a moment to relax. I was still having difficulty moving everything but my face even though I wasn't in the capsule anymore. The liquid that I could see was a strange bluish-green color and thick like jello, but all of it had sloughed off of me since I left the capsule. There was a slug-like trail leading from the room to my current spot and it seemed to almost be shimmering. No, the liquid shouldn't be affecting me anymore, something else was off.

I thought on where the feeling of _wrong_ came from. _'It was so much more pronounced when I was near the man, and inside the capsule.'_ I looked around for anything else that would clue me in and quickly spotted something. _'The doorways, they're so much bigger,'_ I realized.

That wasn't such a strange thought by itself, the problem was that I was _tall,_ the doorways _shouldn't_ seem so big to me. I was used to towering well over people, even with my habitual slouching. Unless I was in a world where everyone was a veritable giant, I shouldn't be feeling as small and weak as I did now. The feeling of _wrong_ intensified as I got closer to the root problem.

I was in a different body.

Not only was I brought to a different world, but I had been bodily transposed somehow. _'Well, why not?'_ I mused. Sure, it was strange, but it wasn't the strangest thing to happen to me since waking to this situation. I wasn't a baby, more along the lines of an older kid or teenager, but that was fine with me. Slightly inconveniencing, but I'd make do. _'After all, if the owner of the voice could mess with biology and free fucking will,'_ I clenched my teeth and bit back the rising anger, _'then what's stopping it from doing whatever they want?'_

Learning that the rabbit hole I was in went down another level deeper wasn't easy, but I was confirming it with my...the two eyes I was using. I looked down at the foreign and too-small limbs, quickly piecing something together. ' _My vision was never this good,'_ I realized. _'so was that why my memory of stargazing was different?'_

While I was mainly angry, a good majority was relieved that I'd figured it all out. The feeling of _wrong_ faded down to almost nothing. I may be missing more, but stressing out over it wouldn't be productive. I tried moving my fingers a little differently than what I was used to—and boy, was _that_ a strange feeling—and was rewarded with my fingers twitching and cramping.

I grinned, what I'd thought were random twitches seemed to actually be improper movement. _'I'm going to need a while to work out the kinks and get used to everything again,'_ I groaned at my realization, letting out a wimpy huff. It didn't seem to be too terribly slow of a process which was a small mercy for my sanity, but I was used to working at a backbreaking pace. If something was slow enough it aggravated me.

Strange sounding words filled my ears, startling me. I belatedly noticed that the suited man was addressing me, looking concernedly down at me. I hadn't been paying attention and didn't notice that the gunshots had stopped, or that he'd somehow snuck up on me. _'Is it a different language or is it that I hear differently now?'_ I brushed off the distracting idea, so far I've had no difficulty with any of my other senses aside from touch. I painfully recalled that I'd been submerged up to my _neck_ , so there was some reasoning behind that. Eyesight, taste, hearing, and smell were working fine.

"Eeeeeeee, nuuuuuuuuu," I struggled to make out.

' _Even talking is going to be different for me with new vocal cords,'_ I realized. I wondered how much trouble and time this situation was going to cause me. Now, I'd need time to prepare before I set off for my revenge. I doubted this was even how being in a different body _worked_ , but I was now in a world of magic—anything was theoretically possible.

The man nodded seriously at my words, seemingly committing my random noise to memory and not outright disregarding them—essentially humoring me. I nodded seriously along with him, schooling my features much like he had until my face was as stiff as his. His lips twitched and he said something, but nothing else gave way to his thoughts on my mockery of him. He patted my head, said another string of words I couldn't understand, and promptly picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and began the walk down the long, mostly destroyed hallway.

I quickly became thankful for his silent company as we made the trek down the hallway. We were slowly going uphill, and I didn't know how long I would've been stuck in the stretching corridor trying to get out by myself, or even if I could. Realistically speaking, I doubted I would've even been able to make it out of the capsule at all. And I certainally couldn't make it down this hallway.

The hallway was absolutely trashed. It was so destroyed that my rescuer had to carefully step around the deformed body parts, pieces of wall, and giant metal limbs to make his way down it. I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. Everything that we passed was destroyed or in disarray, making it hard to put together what it belonged to. I examined all of the strange monsters we passed, or at least what was left of them. Some looked like mutated humans or other typical fantasy monsters, while others...others looked more machine than monster.

I heard the whir of a powerful engine reverberating through the corridor as we approached what I assumed was the exit. It was obvious to tell this is where we would leave by the signs that a huge battle took place recently in the area, but what gave it away was mainly that the air smelled differently here—less antiseptic and blood, more like fresh air. Also, there was the giant metal vault door.

I was adjusted as he searched around in his pockets, feeling much like a sack of potatoes in the process. He pulled out a solid black keycard and brought it towards a panel I missed from my perch. The giant door hissed as it receded inside of the wall, allowing air to rush towards us—and the full force of the sound from outside.

There was a brief moment of sensory overload and I became thoroughly stunned. Sunlight, fresh air, and loud noises combined all at once and almost made me blackout. My senses slowly returned as I adjusted to the sudden change. While uncomfortable, it wasn't as jarring as the abrupt, induced shift in emotions from the voice.

The loud whir of helicopter blades balanced out to a reasonable level, and then my eyes got used to the glare of the sun and the overwhelming smell of grass. I couldn't see far in the harsh sunlight, but I could make out a solid black helicopter with no markings on it. There seemed to be a theme going on with black, but in that moment all I could think of was how good it felt to be outside. It didn't matter to me that I hadn't made my own escape, I was just glad to be out of there.

I was carried into the helicopter that was waiting outside, carried too easily despite my small frame, making me suspect muscle enhancements. He put me on the aircraft, signaled the pilot he was ready for takeoff, and then we quickly took off into the open air with a lurch that almost made me sick from the g-force.

As we leveled out, I easily picked scenery below us through the windows with my new and improved vision—massive trees with giant canopies dotted the landscape, and a seemingly endless blue sea filled my vision. It was breathtaking aside from the small entrance that denoted the place I was held in. _'Maybe this whole summoned to another world thing won't be so bad, I can clearly see without the need for glasses now. There's a whole new world for me to explore out there.'_ It gave me something to dwell on during the ride at least.

The man tried talking to me again, trying to garner my attention back into the aircraft, possibly trying to explain to me what was going to happen next in his strange language. I ignored him in favor of staring outside the window, drinking in what a whole new world had to offer.

The trees were easily seventy feet straight up—the canopies almost twice as long horizontally—which giant birds of prey rested in and trailed our passage with sharp eyes. The sea was ever expanding and had what looked like lizardmen patrolling along the beaches with tridents in hand. A mind-bogglingly massive serpent briefly breached the surface of the water, much like a whale, then quickly dove back under.

I stared outside, watching the scenery go by with a content smile on my face.

' _I really am in another world,'_ I tiredly thought, excited by the prospect.

o~O~o

A commotion was happening up front as I woke. Once again, I was more groggy than I was used to, taking almost a full minute to put together where I was. I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep. I blearily raised my head from the seat cushion and focused my attention on what was going on up front.

Both the pilot and suit-wearing badass were arguing and pointing towards several different directions. Naturally, I decided to look out the window. Not quite putting together what I saw. I frowned, not enjoying how this body seemed to have difficulty waking up in an alert fashion.

I was ready for another day spent riding in the helicopter, the seats were surprisingly comfortable to sleep on, so I had no qualms about it. If I had any lingering doubt about this being a magic world, they were gone now. The helicopter had flown overnight and most of the previous day was spent flying over mountains and giant lakes at great speeds without any trivial needs such as _refueling_. That had to be breaking several laws of physics, confirming magitech was in play.

There was one problem though, after a quick test I realized I still couldn't properly move after my short rest, nothing more than twitches and small amounts of shifting. It seemed that my new body atrophied quite a bit, but it was rapidly improving. I'd been in the capsule for an unknown amount of time and was currently more bones than meat.

When I looked down upon the city we were approaching, something inside of me twisted.

So many people wish to start their life over. What they really want is to _know_ what was going on with their life and have the time to plan for it. To know what to do, or what comes next with some magical answer that's pulled from the ass-end of nowhere. Magic doesn't bother with things such as _reason_. I hadn't fully realized what that meant. Looking down at the city I _knew_ what was happening—and I was conflicted.

' _I should've known,'_ I bitterly thought. _'Things hadn't been strange enough. Of course, they would somehow get more outlandish. If I had just switched bodies, then I would've continued living and do my level best to forget anything had even happened to me—to play the amnesiac and work out what I was going to do next. This is absurd.'_ Trepidation filled me as I looked down at what was below us.

I _knew_ the city that was down there.

I sharply drew breath, garnering the attention of the person wearing a suit, someone I now knew because of my situation. Maybe, if there was time to prepare, I could've come to terms with my fate. I was not prepared.

Somehow I was in a game.

Midgar loomed beneath us, eating the landscape and drawing all attention towards it. Barren wastelands, dead looking ground, and Shinra patrols moving through rocky fields made a stark contrast to the green that grew several miles away from it. It demanded attention with how vile its presence was.

I suddenly found myself in the game of Final Fantasy 7.

I frowned, organizing my thoughts before it fully set in. _Midgar_ ,the iconic plate city was beneath us. The _eight_ Mako Reactors looking like their nuclear equivalent were just as familiar to me as the intact Shinra skyscraper nestled in the center of the city. The top plate where houses stood wasn't known to me, but the slums beneath it were. I'd played countless hours of the game, of course I would remember it.

That I could remember _that_ when I couldn't remember who my father was pissed me off. Mounting frustration welled up inside me. _'Something's wrong here. This shouldn't be possible and doesn't make any sense at all.'_

Magic, I was quickly finding out, was bullshit.

The walls surrounding the plate city seemed impossibly large—maybe a hundred feet or more of clear safety glass and metallic plating with turrets lining it liberally—and was growing nearer. I could see the eight sectors down below, each the size of a small town compacted as tight as it could get. Now that we were getting closer towards the city, I saw _robots_ moving along with patrols of Shinra Infantry. The Infantry helmets even had the signature three red glowing eyes.

No doubt about it, I was in the game. But no, not truly. There were no blocky polygons or pointy bits. This seemed to be an incredibly realistic version where the events of the game hadn't yet taken place. A version that I was somehow in. It was difficult to wrap my head around that.

Something must have alarmed my savior— _Tseng,_ leader of the Turks—because he moved to my side and started shaking me, spouting something in what I was now sure was Japanese. The familiarity suddenly made sense, I'd heard it before, it wasn't an alien language. I still had no idea what he was saying, and didn't know what to reply.

He shook me a couple more times, set his hand on my shoulder, then gave up looking utterly confused when nothing helped. I hadn't freaked out in the facility, surrounded by dead monsters and the possibility of my own death. I was terrified then, but now I was close to the point of freaking the fuck out.

I gulped, realizing who was in the helicopter with me. _'No, I can't freak out here. Not with him here and my freedom at stake,'_ I bitterly thought.

It wasn't helping. I could feel a panic attack at the sudden realization that things were much stranger than I initially thought they were.I felt a flash of pain across my face that startled me, but more importantly dragged me out of my spiraling thoughts. I looked up at Tseng, who did his best to stare into my eyes, looking for any remaining signs of mania. The slap had sobered me up and dragged me back to myself.

I didn't know what to do now: I couldn't speak the language, I would be in Shinra custody, and worst of all I was utterly helpless. I looked over at Tseng, who was still staring at me intently. I was at his mercy, so I did just about the only thing I could do—I cried.

The tears came from the conflicting emotions playing out inside of me. The sobbing came from the crushing reality that there may not be a real reality around me. My body reacted to my emotions and there wasn't much I could do to stop it. Nature had taken over and was helping me cope. Snot dribbled down my face and I couldn't even reach up to wipe it off.

It was several more minutes until we got close enough to the city to land. I somehow managed to gather myself when we touched down right outside the sector gates leading into the city. The city of Midgar was right in front of me and I was being dragged in against my will. Tseng was giving me strange looks at my fast recovery and sudden shift in emotions, but accepted it and wiped off my face with a thematically black tissue.

I put my slight breakdown out of mind, instead focusing on the sheer size of the iconic city. It never seemed so big from a top-down or angled perspective, and all the buildings were bigger than expected and seemed to expand far into the distance. Especially the towering monolith in the center—Shinra tower.

I knew that by some strange play of fate, things hadn't been set in motion yet. No destroyed reactors that I could see from the air, no collapsed sector plates, no army mobilized. The city almost seemed...peaceful.

That illusion was thoroughly destroyed as I was carried by Tseng through the Sector 5 gate and into the slums. Slums were the only word to describe the place we stepped into it. A feeling of being watched crawled over me as we passed under the gates, crossing into the city. Nothing but rubble, debris, and shattered roads greeted us, but the feeling of danger and being watched lingered.

Faint moaning along with a stench that had my eyes watering was carried on a heavy breeze. Eyes peered out of little rubble crevices, tracking our movement and setting me on edge. I was stuck knowing that I wouldn't be able to defend myself if something happened. I _hated_ feeling helpless like this.

Skittering echoed off the walls. I couldn't trace where they came from as heaps of trash and debris obscured the view of the surroundings. A curdling scream pierced the air, making Tseng pause and draw his gun, only to be put at ease when it was abruptly cut off. I shivered, there was no way any sane person could live here. _'But then again, this isn't a sane world,'_ I admitted.

The Sector 5 slums seemed dead with the pale and yellow dirt. It wasn't the pitch black surrounding Midgar, but it was an unhealthy color. The stale air was only broken up by slight breezes that sent trash shuffling. _Ghost town_ was the first thing that came to mind, and the description fit perfectly. My nerves were raw, constantly expecting monsters to jump out at us just like in the game, but it never ended up happened.

Eventually, we came upon the abandoned church. At least, abandoned by all but one. As soon as I laid eyes on it, a sense of peace and calm washed over me. It was pleasant, and a nice change from the tense atmosphere before, but it reminded me too much of the voice. That fact alone made me tense up again, making me speculate... Tseng set me down and went inside, presumably to check if Aerith was inside and left me to my thoughts. In the meantime, I compared the church to what I knew of the game. It was surprisingly similar.

By some stroke of luck, a chunk of the plate above let in sunlight shining directly on the church in some blatant contrast between it and the city. I could see actual grass poking through cracks of the church, my first sign that something was _alive_ in Midgar, and weeds were growing right outside. There was also a gut feeling about the church that screamed _alive_ to me. I thought I briefly saw a face flicker in the window looking outside at me, but attributed it to my nerves.

Before I could dwell more on all of the strange feelings, Tseng came back out somehow looking happy despite having absolutely no change on his stern expression. It probably had something to do with him carrying a simple white flower in his front pocket. He walked over, picked me up, and then continued on wordlessly.

I barely noticed the scenery around us changing. The shift was so subtle I almost missed it. Everything went from trash and rubble to just rubble. Several buildings popped up that were in clear need of repair—cracks ran up their sides, roofs were semi-collapsed, and almost all of the windows in the area were broken. Things were different from what I remembered of the game, but only in the fact that there was _more_. More buildings clustered together, more people in the streets than I was comfortable with, and more activity going on. Thankfully, the locals all seemed to give Tseng a wide and healthy berth.

After being carried like a sack for far too long, Tseng's journey ended inside of a camp which I was positive was the same Sector 5 camp which Aerith lived in. I let the tension slowly fade away. There was no way that this was a coincidence, but I didn't want to think about it. I was feeling exhausted from the hectic ordeal of being rescued, sleeping on the helicopter, having my worldview shattered several times, and going through the slums.

I was eventually brought into what looked like an infirmary from the brief glance I got of it. Tseng exchanged a few words with an old man who seemed to own the place, and then settled me down onto a bed.

I dozed in and out of consciousness, each time wondering if I'd wake up in a different body as the day slowly ended. I was given bland food and water, a pan to relieve myself in, and several questions which I couldn't understand when I woke up from a particularly long nap. The words seemed like they were starting to make sense.

Tseng disappeared without my notice during one of my naps. Strangely, I was worried that the Turk wouldn't show up again and that he wouldn't tell me his reason for bringing me here—a worry which came true as the high-powered lights on the underside of the plates above dimmed down, effectively simulating nighttime and plunging the camp into darkness.

Sure, there were lights posted outside on the other buildings that gave off enough luminesce to stumble to the next patch of light, but this was an all-encompassing dark that dawned over the slums. The kind you find in caves and deep underwater. The kind where your mind conceives creatures or monsters not there—though in this case, they might actually be.

I spent my first night in the most technologically advanced city on the planet wrapped in a tattered blanket, in the slums, wondering where fate was going to take me.

Cold, naked, hungry, and alone.

o~O~o

The next day, I woke to the sound of fighting.

Gunshots, shouting, and the sound of metal-on-metal woke me up. I blinked away the haze, cursing this body's inability to wake up quickly. By the time I fully woke up it was all over. I took stock of my situation, there wasn't much else I could do.

I still couldn't move properly, but made progress on the twitches. The sounds of flesh hitting flesh, screams, and gunshots had set my blood pumping and caused an unpleasant adrenaline rush to set on, which was only now slowly fading. Despite that, I was feeling ravenous—hungry enough that I'd eat just about anything. At the least, I was feeling much better than I did yesterday.

The old man stumbled in from a separate room clutching a rifle and looking hungover. Now that I properly had a chance I looked him over closely. The most prominent thing about him was his beer gut, followed behind only by his unkempt beard that was down to his chest. He was older and graying, but he was still a large man; not weak in his age at all. It was obvious that he was a drinker, he had yellowing eyes and teeth, and I could smell his breath from across the room.

He was blinking sleep away from his eyes and settled on the doorway looking outside as if waiting for something. Several voices were heard calling out, and at that point the old man left grumbling, not even looking a bit put off by waking up to violence.

He came back a moment later dragging an unconscious teenager by the scruff of his shirt with several grim-faced adults in tow. The older teen was limp and bloody. He dragged the kid to the bed across from me while trailing blood the entire way.

I remained in bed, watching it all play out passively and trying to catch up. I couldn't understand what was being said and wasn't used to situations like this, so I kept quiet and didn't draw attention to myself. The teenager was lanky and had black hair, but his face was so bruised that there were no other features I could make out. His shirt seemed to be a sack vest while his pants were high water jeans. All of it was very low quality, just like what everyone else wore.

' _Everyone else but me.'_ I realized, suddenly extremely aware of my nude body. Something that I had almost completely forgotten about. Shame washed over me as more people entered the room and worked on the teen.

I calmed myself, putting the bizarre scene out of mind. I was still a bit disorientated from just waking up, but I'd manage. I tried organizing the questions that were racing through my mind, putting the bloody scene out of thought.

' _What purpose did Tseng have of bringing me here?'_ I knew that in the game Tseng had a soft spot for Aerith, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe that trait carried over to other children. _'Did he just want me away from Shinra, but close enough to keep tabs?'_ I couldn't reasonably explain this without asking Tseng himself, which I'd try to do at the next opportunity—if I had one. _'Finding me hooked up to what must be a black site project must be reported right?_ ' If they knew about Aerith with how much Tseng liked her, then there was no doubt in my mind that Shinra now knew about me. _'What was the point of just dumping me here then, when I clearly didn't speak the language? I could barely move and have a hard time staying awake,'_ I mused. Tseng had his own motives for what he did. If I wanted to decide my own future, I needed to get a better grasp of everything.

' _Now the biggest question, what was I going to do about future events?'_ I didn't know how I would help, or even if I should honestly.

It scared me thinking about how easily I could mess up the events if I took too much of an active role or wasn't careful enough. I wondered if I'd even be able to help, or if I could even be on the level that the main characters were at. They were the planet's best warriors after all, and I needed to find a way to keep up if I even wanted to help. Otherwise, I'd just be a burden, helpless to sit back and watch. A Yamcha.

An exclamation brought me out of my thoughts, then derailed them into the ground as I saw what was happening. The old man was pressing his wiry hands on the kid's chest, a bottle in hand and pouring the liquid into open wounds.

I froze, breath hitching. I felt helpless watching this without being able to help. Mania began to rise as I tried scrambling for an idea of what to do.

The scene lasted for several more minutes until the old man's expression hardened. He went back into his room, coming back out with a bottle of strong smelling alcohol and incense. He lit up the sticks and a sweet aroma quickly filled the room. He then offered what I assumed was a small prayer to the recently departed, and then ruined the peaceful image he created by taking a large swig of the drink.

What shocked me out of my thoughts was when he began tugging on the clothes of the dead kid, taking them off and rummaging through them. He made an exclamation when he found a hidden pocket, then grumbled when nothing was found in it. He then looked over to me and tossed both the pants and shirt over. The bloody clothes of the still warm owner. The clothes draped over me and I couldn't move to brush them off.

He walked outside and barked something and then two rough looking men came into the infirmary, taking the body wrapped in bloody sheets with them on the way out with grim faces. The whole ordeal was all over in less than 15 minutes. I heard wailing from outside that was quickly and sternly hushed—probably a friend.

I managed to stay stupefied for a good bit, staring at where the boy had been. It was my second day here. Reality had reared its ugly head and shown that this wasn't a game. I was in a very real situation where I could die. There doesn't even seem to be much you can do when it happens. Otherwise, they would have used a phoenix down or something else to help save the kid. It was over so fast, I could barely comprehend what was going on.

I shivered, feeling unusually cold. I was now facing a much harsher reality than the one I was used to. My first brush with death had come entirely unexpected and caught me off guard. Even if I'd thought to help him, I _wouldn't_ have been able to. My body was weak from the vat filled with what I was now guessing Mako in light of recent information, and I didn't know what to do to save him.

For the rest of the day, I spent my time trying to come to terms with what my life had become—trying to not turn into a blathering mess. Thoughts flooded my mind with panic constantly. ' _Was this the result of mako poisoning? Was I infected with JENOVA cells? What do I do now?'_ I internally fretted and had to keep pushing the thoughts away. I managed to keep the mania in check, barely.

When night came, I took the offered medicine from the clinic owner. I gladly took them and welcomed the effects that the drugs brought on me, dragging me into a tired daze. It was nothing like what I woke up to though. I shivered at that thought. The night came, the overhead lights dimmed and then abruptly cut off. Distantly, I realized that there'd been no sign of Tseng all day. It looked like I was on my own for now.

I didn't sleep much that night.

At least I was warm in my new clothes.


	3. Chapter 2- The Vagrant's Vice

_Vice Hero_

 _ARC 1 - Strange Exposition_

 _CHAPTER 2 - The Vagrant's Vice_

 _AN- Still working on new chapters despite rewriting. Having to make some slight adjustments to the start, but nothing game changing. Details I missed out on and all that. You can still get the gist of it by reading as is. I just want more input, so I'm going to up the quality until I get it._

 _I'm probably going to hit the 100k words mark after this or the next update. So I may get a couple new viewers who set the search criteria for that. Hope you'll stick with the story and watch me progress and edit. I feel like at this point it's a decent story. I want it to be better than that. Mainly focusing on adding dialogue to make it flow better._

 _Let me know what you think. Or don't. I just ask that so you'd feel guilty reading it._

* * *

I was having skewed issues finding myself displaced on another world.

Simply put, I _hated_ not knowing what was going on.

I knew about the ensuing plot that would happen to this world. I wasn't worried about that. That would happen regardless if I was here on this world or not. No, more specifically what I disliked was not knowing about the most important thing— _me_.

I was uncomfortable with the amount of memory that was missing in my head. It was akin to fridge horror—the quick thaw type—to me, but what was most disconcerting was how much I remembered about a _game,_ and how little about _me._ Sure, it benefited me greatly, but that realization left a sour taste in my mouth. Just enough memories and shreds of personality to dangle in my face and leave me wanting more. To make things worse, the Turks had their unseen eyes on me, making me hesitant to start making plans until I knew more about my situation.

Strangely enough, I wasn't fretting about _why_ I had woken in the first place. There was no use thinking about that now that _that_ ship had sailed. It was just an idle curiosity at this point, not a frantic drive. Even pondering how I would fit into upcoming events did not have me sweating. I knew what was going to come into play, but I didn't know _when_ it was all going to happen. I added that to my list of things I'd need to deal with soon—which was quickly becoming overwhelming.

In truth, I wasn't as put off by my situation as I thought I'd be. I just wanted to move on and know _what next._ The only action that I could really feasibly pull off, for now, was to rest and recover. I needed to be cautious about what I showed when I _did_ get out of this bed—especially with the Turks about. I hadn't been brought in to be experimented on despite my paranoia.

I wanted to keep it that way.

So I simply wouldn't give them anything to make them suspicious about my character until it was too late for them to do anything and fully integrate myself into the plot for safety from Shinra. The memory of being stuck in the vat was too raw to brush off and ignore. Too soon to even think about acting rashly and getting brought in for questioning.

If I had it my way, I would never see a doctor again in the hopes of avoiding Hojo indefinitely. Fate forced me to face the unreasonableness of that wishful thinking. In some sick twist, I found my new prison to be the inside of a clinic. I had been confined to the medical bed for an entire week, all the while struggling to find out more about myself and the world around me.

' _Vis medicatrix naturae.'_ I mused.

There hadn't been a single visit from the Shinra spies. The hands-off approach was off-putting. I wouldn't be surprised if there were cameras inside somewhere though: that seemed more in their nature and something I couldn't wholly convince myself was false. To distract me from the prospect of constantly being watched, I settled on slowly putting bits and pieces of information together in my head about this world.

Things such as the sequence of events and monster types and their weaknesses that I remembered. Things that I would need to survive and live in this combat-oriented world. Something to keep my mind occupied while I was unnaturally aware of how handicapped I was. It was a slow and arduous task. Perfect to keep me distracted while I healed.

My mind was easily occupied, but I was still growing restless. Figuring out how my body worked in the meantime was an exceptionally weird experience. It was a slow and strange process. I had to figure out how everything worked all over again.

' _Then again, I've always enjoyed finding out how things work. At least I'm pretty sure. This isn't that difficult—just a new body. Even with the high strangeness factor, it hasn't been difficult finding things out. The biggest hurdles were getting over the random twitches and phantom sensations. Now though, I'm on the final stretch of recovery. I got this.'_ I slapped my cheeks as I resolved myself. Then proceeded to lift my hand and stare intently while observing it.

"Status," I whispered quietly to myself. First in English. Then in what I guessed was Japanese.

Nothing happened.

I looked around to make sure nobody in the clinic was giving me strange looks. I sighed in resignation when I realized I was in the clear.

Of course, why was I surprised nothing would happen? None of this was a game. It all felt too real. From the twinges that kept me up at night, the headaches I got trying to figure out a language, they all laid out to me that this wasn't a game. It was now my reality. I still wasn't wholly convinced.

My hand was much smaller than what I was used too as I stared at it. Several scars crossed my fingers—testament to the fact that this wasn't my body. It made me nervous thinking too deeply along those lines. At least there weren't any voices inside of my head.

I twiddled my thumbs and ran through several exercises to get a better feeling from my hand. It resulted in a satisfying pop when I succeeded, which had me sighing in blissful satisfaction at the feeling. I've slowly been gaining control over the body—No. I needed to remember that it was now _my_ body.

I've been slowly gaining control of _my_ body. The effects of the liquid—which I was now guessing was mako—had been slowly wearing off more and more as time passed.

' _That's right. Before I found myself waking up in a strange vat, this was what I liked. I enjoyed the thrill of how things connected and the way that they fit together. The feeling when something finally clicks and is understood in the entirety is like a drug to me. That moment of Bazinga drives me to find out more. Something about understanding the logic of events, why they happen, how they happen, just sticks with me and makes me want to know each and every step in detail.'_

I idly pulled each finger back until a faint popping was heard.

I would like to think that finding myself in a new world with strange physics, actual magic, and supernatural forces at play would make me _want_ to understand everything around me. I was cross to find that my curiosity of things outside my reach had lessened considerably. I was jaded towards thinking and not being able to act upon it. My drive to _know_ had dampened considerably in my time spent trapped. The constant worrying and attempts to piece things together had worked against me there. Now, In my little world that had been replaced by the medical bed, I had little compunction of learning how fucked I was.

Shaking my head I made a small list in my head. _'Let's see. I'm in a new body with clothes that barely cling onto me. The clothes that just so happen to still be stained with the blood of the last owner, who just so happened to die over there in the other bed. I'm still unable to move properly. I'm in a game-like world. Just what is the reasoning behind all this? Just how?'_ I grimaced thinking about my current situation. It had very little room for excitement and wonderment. There was still some, but not enough to rouse my foul attitude towards my situation. I had my hands full trying to keep all of my thoughts together and not break down wondering _how_ and _why_ this happened.

Putting it lightly, the constant worrying was driving me closer to the edge. It was difficult keeping my thoughts _away_ from reminiscing of my time spent in the vat—once on that path everything cascades into pointless repeating questions. A loop that resulted in a splitting headache when asking the unanswerable.

I let out a disgruntled sigh. Drawing the attention of the other patients who quickly look away. I spent so much time constantly around them that I barely noticed they were there now. I was tired of my circulating thoughts.

I was trapped in a vat unable to move, the thinking was all I had then. Now, things were different. It was frustrating lacking the ability to move around comprehensively. Even now that I was out of the vat I was still feeling that frustration vividly. My body still hadn't recovered fully from the ordeal. Very aggravating overall.

But I was making _progress_.

That thought made everything so far seem worth it.

I've been locked in a bed for about a week since I came here. The time spent seemed to blur by. The first few days were fading in and out of consciousness trying to move when lucidity came to me. The next few days were spent trying to put together what the others were saying—leaving me with a near constant headache. It had helped my understanding at least.

I shift to get more comfortable in my bed, scratching a spot on my back that was bothering me. It wasn't a terrible experience—I'd say a bit monotonous—but plenty exciting enough for me. Just being around people for several days was enough to satiate my need for human contact. I hadn't realized I gained that aspect from being alone.

Hearing the hustle and bustle of the outside world quickly replaced that with the need to get out—leading me to my attempts to recover faster. Stretches and other things to familiarize me to my body were what now occupied most of my time. Simple exercises that my weak body constitution could handle.

I hadn't thought that my need to get out and move around would quickly grow to a point I could barely tolerate. It was almost a physical pain. _'Actually, now that I think about it, it might be bedsores. I haven't been moving around much aside from sitting up and being carried to the bathroom. My ass is killing me from not being able to walk.'_

I shifted uneasily in my bed, passively watching the clinic's caretaker check another patient's teeth.

As I rolled my shoulders I attempted picking out words in the conversation that the old man was having with the patient, but quickly grew tired trying to recognize any familiar sounding words. It was strange having to learn a language all over again. I knew the meaning of several, but not enough to understand everything they were saying.

Luckily, I had _some_ semblance of an idea of what was going on around me. I could now at least understand _some_ of the local languages. It was a terrifying experience having people talk to me with no understanding of anything.

I had quickly figured out I was in a medical clinic somewhere in the Sector 5 slums. My first task of confirming my suspicions was completed easily. Too easily. The first thing I managed to ask was a weak "Where am I?" It was incredulous just finding out the fact that I was in _Midgar_ which just confirmed my suspicions. I was now being taken care of like an invalid or a mako poisoning patient by the clinic's doctor much to my detestment. I _hated_ be invalid and feeling trapped. The only difference I had with a mako poisoned individual was that I recovered. That in and of itself should've caused more of a commotion in the slums, but nothing came out of it. I remembered in the game it was unprecedented and almost never happened. Cloud and Zack were outliers, and now I was too.

I didn't feel special in the least.

I remembered that feeling of easily being replaced and shuddered.

My stomach rumbled and I looked down frowning at the location of the offending noise—I _still_ couldn't be satiated even with a week of doing nothing strenuous. I would think that my stomach would shrink during—I quickly cut the thought off. I was right though, me not being fed solid food must be playing a big part. I was just receiving some strange glop that was reminiscent of mashed potatoes and bread mixed together. It was a far cry from what I was used to. I was a bit jealous of the other patients—all because the staple that people eat in the slums seemed to be crab legs.

If I didn't know that I was in a game, I probably would've imploded and pulled out all my hair trying to figure out just _how_ crab legs became so easily accessible in this run-down, shitty place. But since this is the world of Final Fantasy, it probably boils down to the answer being something along the lines of monsters. At least thinking helps distract me from trying to piece together how I got here. Thinking about anything else is better than giving in to _that_ circular madness.

' _Maybe I get too easily caught up thinking about these unexplainable things?'_ I shook my head stopping that train of thought. _'My status is still bedridden, helpless, and confused. I need to focus on building up enough strength to move. Not wasting time thinking about pointless things. I'm getting winded just from sitting up. Fixing that is what matters for now.'_ I laid out to myself.

I slowly made a fist and clenched it. I was inching closer to being able to get out and _do_ something with this life. I still wasn't sure what that something was, but it sure beats being confined.

The owner of the clinic finished checking his patient and started listing off a report. "Growing in fine,"—some medical jargon I didn't understand—"no abnormalities, tumors, or extra growths detected. You are good and should be in clear. Try to avoid getting hit in the mouth. Use that hard-head of yours to block it next time." He said matter-of-factly with a thick Russian accent and a chuckle.

' _I'll never be able to get over that. He doesn't look Russian in the slightest. If anything he looks like a slightly orange Chinese man.'_ I briefly wondered. With the conversation starting to develop further, I tuned them out in favor of focusing on the process of slowly flexing my knee.

Whatever effects that the liquid from the vat had were undoing itself from the head down. Movement in my lower limbs heralded an impending recovery. I gently lowered my slightly-numb right leg off the side of my bed and began massaging it. _'Having to be your own physical therapist sucks. I'm getting no help from the doctor."_ I paused and looked up, catching him staring at me working on easing the muscles in my leg. He quickly looked away, focusing on his patient. _"Well, none aside from strange looks and the medicine-glop he's been giving me. It's probably a potion or something along those lines. In the game, it was a cure-all for general health, so it would make sense. To think that they have miracle medicine here, but no physical therapy to speed the process along is simply astounding.'_ I shook my head at the bizarreness of it all. I knew the basics of physical therapy to a point, but any advanced treatments—which I needed—were beyond me at the moment, required specialized equipment, and couldn't be done alone safely.

I clenched my fist, wincing at the sudden movement. That I could remember various random things pissed me off and sent me into a foul mood. I wanted to know _so much more._ I wasn't above using the information though, the unfairness of the situation was making me into a spiteful person against this world. A slight tingle made it's way over my skin, not leaving until I exhaled slowly—letting out all the pent-up frustration in the process.

' _Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim.'_ I wondered lightly. Trying to puzzle out where that thought came from left me confused and with a growing headache. I didn't quite know what it meant, but it felt...appropriate. Strange how something can be both confusing and apt at the same time. I eventually gave up on it and focused on my routine.

I switched to my left leg, thinking about the strange new world that I found myself in. Nothing exciting had happened as it had that first day. Monster attacks were fairly commonplace in the slums—with it also comes a loss of life. It had been strangely silent since then. The monsters had been kept in check by the mercenaries after the first incursion. The locals were quite angry about the kid who died. Apparently, he was the son of the local guild owner or something along those death resulted in a widespread monster hunt and constant hunting parties to be formed. The tough looking men that came in had been inflicted with grisly, jagged cuts and dark bruises covering their body.

The wounds, while hideous and painful looking, were nothing serious.

They would leave hours later after drinking a potion or two and a quick checkup to make sure nothing wrong was happening. In truth, it almost seemed as if the people of Gaia cared for their weapons more than they did their bodies. They would complain more of a dented blade than a dented leg. There was no instant recovery much to my displeasure. Just extremely unnatural speeds of recovery. Every time someone left my thoughts were flooded with jealousy. _'It's bullshit how they recover so fast while I've been taking medicine near constantly for a week straight with barely any visible effect,'_ I grimaced.

I languidly stretch my arms above my head with the frown deepening on my face. I _really_ wasn't happy with my situation in general. I would've much preferred having the opportunity to move on with my life. Now, I had knowledge of the future that I couldn't let go to waste. I didn't want to die like some nameless citizen.I reached upwards until a pop came from my shoulders.

I gingerly put some weight on my leg. Slowly easing it out and testing the weak muscles. I could move slightly, but supporting my own weight would be iffy. My past several attempts to stand had left me in inordinate amounts of pain. Instead of attempting to walk—which would earn me a scolding from the doctor—I opted to briefly tune back in on the conversation that was still going on. I _still_ couldn't get over the ridiculous accent that the old man sported. It cheered me up at least.

A lot of the other patients didn't share my sentiments about recovering quickly. They thought I was _lucky_ to be taken care. I was _lucky_ to be kept in the clinic instead of leaving after one treatment to go back to work. With fast working drugs and no labor laws, work hours were ridiculous for the mercenaries. The only reason they stopped was that they either ran out of healing items or were dead. I didn't know where phoenix downs or revives fit in and was scared to ask. Showing knowledge I wasn't privy to would earn me a talk with the Turks.

With this knowledge, I became even more adamant about learning how to fight once I recovered despite hearing life outside. I _wanted_ the challenge of catching up to those who spent years fighting. It brought forth a competitive spirit inside of me to measure up to the planet's best warriors. I wasn't sure if they needed to 'level up' or what that translated to, but I figured I at _least_ needed to be on their level if I wanted to survive outside of Shinra control.

The slum dwellers thought I should just enjoy my time and take things easy—especially once I got out and moving. To think of my time being a cripple as a type of vacation, not as motivation, was an alien concept to me. I could see it in the disapproving looks when they watch me put to use my knowledge of physical therapy. They caught on fast that I wanted _out,_ but had the decency to not question my odd actions or voice any complaints. They were content to let me do my own thing as long as it seemed like I knew what I was doing.

Space was much appreciated, but they could cut back on the stares and questioning looks. I don't know what they thought happened to me but was glad that nobody so far brought it into question. It was something even _I_ didn't know. It would just anger me to talk about it. Reminding me of my time spent helpless. With the Turks involved it was probably better not to ask questions—no matter how curious they on the Turks shit list had a tendency to disappear.

The mercenaries and doctor were surprised about the lack of effects that the drugs were having on me, which was the main source of confusion from them. To me, it was more surprising that most of the patients were here to check up on their teeth. _'In a world full of things to explore, I can't believe I'm caught up on why dental hygiene is one of the most important roles of doctors. Every other patient I've seen comes in to get their teeth checked. Is it that potions grow teeth and that they have to check on them? Is it even possible humans can grow more teeth here?'_ I briefly debated asking, then brushed it off. Satiating my knowledge wasn't worth risking my freedom over. I'm pleased to feel the drive to _know_ spark again.

With my frown turning into a grin, and an arch of my back; I look at the mess made from today that's strewn about the clinic. Bloody rags and puddles of ichor were scattered all over the floor. Being a doctor in a world with monsters is a full-time job—even with access to literal magic medicine.

I made a face at the disgusting setting. The sanitation of this place, and the slums in general was abysmal. The lazy bastard probably thinks that spot cleaning blood puddles makes it clean! I shudder thinking about how quickly and easily this place could become similar to an emergency room. Every day I had to get on the owner's ass about cleaning up constantly—not just for my sake—but also for the others.

Even with potions, I wouldn't want to live in a breeding ground for bacteria. He didn't seem interested when I tried explaining the reasoning behind cleaning to him. I didn't want to think about what this place was like before I came along. I wasn't even sure if infections were going to be something that I had to deal with—or even be worried about because of potions. Being able to no-sell infections because of magic would be helpful.

Knowing my luck, I would probably have to deal with infections caused by magic _and_ natural ones. Geostigma was the most prevalent example of the former. The natural infections are probably nastier as a result of easy healing or exotic monsters.

"Yo old man!" I called out in fractured language—sounding like the thugs that I spent all my time around. I couldn't help but mimic them. It was so much easier and more fun than the Russian accent. It didn't really _feel_ like I was speaking in a different tongue when I talked though. "You wanna clean?" I asked, gesturing at the clinic in a pleading way with a forced smile on my face.

From what I remember, I wasn't a clean freak. A little bit of blood doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's just seeing it and living in it are two very different things. I needed to have _some_ control over my environment if I was going to be living here. I didn't want to be entirely helpless again.

The old man looked at me incredulously, then picked up a rag and filled up a bucket with soapy water. "Pah! Always asking me to clean like I'm your damn maid. Will you hurry up and get better so you can get out and stop wasting medicine, but more importantly so you can stop bothering me with that pitiful face." he said with a grin as he started to scrub at the worst of the stains littering the floor.

I bristled at his comment, wondering if there was any truth or disdain behind his words, but still played out our game. "Fuck off you old man, don't make me get up and beat some manners into you." I drawled back at him while having a shit-eating grin plastered on my face. I even slipped my hands into my pockets and adopted the classic gangster slouch to complete the image. Not an easy feat when sitting in a bed. I've been learning lots of important things during my stay here.

He laughed in good nature at the cheeky reply. Either from the language or the image of a bedridden kid beating him up making him laugh. I then got lost in my thoughts.

Jokes aside, I wouldn't be ungrateful towards his efforts to accommodate me. He was just using tough love to make me feel better. I had been in a funk the past few days. _'He was right, after all, it's ridiculous how many potions I'm consuming with so little payoff. I would say I'm suffering from mako poisoning: all the physical symptoms are there, but it just doesn't seem right. So just what was going on with me?_ '

To further drive the sense of being in another world into me my body felt strange, like little fleas jumping under my skin. It aggravated me waking up to the uncomfortable sensation constantly. When I asked about it the doctor just shrugged and said it was probably the mako inside of me. I couldn't say it was mako poisoning when I was so aware of what was going on. Maybe earlier in the vat I suffered from it, but now I seemed to be better and shaking off the effects.

I couldn't tell if the strange sense of fleas was from the strange liquid or the medicine that I was taking—probably some combination of both.

An even more alien sensation for me was not feeling comfortable in my own skin. Mako inside my body was a completely new and alien feeling that I couldn't quickly grow accustomed to. The feeling of fleas fading to the back of my mind until it flared up randomly. Things _still_ didn't work right sometimes even with the progress I had been making towards getting better control of my body. I was having to shake off muscle memories that somehow stuck with me into this life. I couldn't even begin to think about how that was even possible. I shook my head once again at the confusing thoughts, turning them to something intriguing. _'No, what really drives the sense of strangeness home was the language.'_

Simply put, it's abnormal how fast I'm picking it up.

It's been a week. Already I had been picking up simple words and phrases. That doesn't happen.

The natives didn't seem to think that anything was off. Even at my rate of picking things up. There were no strange looks that I got trying to communicate with other patients—all the strange looks were from my actions of trying to recover faster. If anything, they encouraged communication by pointing things out and making corrections—little things which helped me pick it up all that much faster.

The other patients that helped were willing to humor me and teach me words when asked. I was touched by their help. Nobody seemed to pick up that I had no prior knowledge of the language at all—something that I was going to keep to myself.

The old man finished cleaning up the majority of the clinic. He then proceeded to head back into his personal room, turn on his small T.V, and begin drinking. Rewarding himself greedily after a day's work.

I clicked my tongue at the typical behavior. At least this time he cleaned up _before_ drinking. He made more of a mess last time because of that, though it was even more embarrassing with me completely failing to help him out because of the state I was in. Luckily for the patients, he doesn't need to be entirely sober to do his trade.

So far, the other patients have mainly been teaching me swears, insults, and curses to yell at opponents. The sentiment was there, it was all just a bit strange being under the attention of people who fight for a living. It was much like being near a professional MMA fighter—you can sense the latent violence with the way they hold themselves. No matter though, I was getting the need-to-know information of the slums.

I was a bit wary about the strong sense of community that they were showing. I was expecting more of Cloud's behavior among the merc's, not these friendly thugs. It could be that I was interesting and something to entertain them while they were getting patched up. Or it could be them keeping up to date on my recovery—then proceeding to report it to the Turks.

Either way, I found myself actually enjoying the simple company of the rough and crude men. They certainly livened things up for me. The clinic seemed exceptionally empty when they all went home, leaving me to stew in my jealousy. Very rarely would patient's stay the night. The medicine was just too potent to allow something like that.

' _Maybe once I got out of here they'd be willing to teach me how to fight. Even if all I wanted was to just survive in this world with no interaction with the plot it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask—they seem to like me enough as is.'_ I hummed in thought.

I wasn't sure what to think about me being in another world, even less sure what to make of the people and culture.

' _Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto,'_ I again, the unknown phrase seemed fitting and almost within my reach of understanding.

Some part of me was wondering why I wasn't screaming and freaking out over the prospect of starting over. Obviously, _something_ was going on. I just couldn't piece together what that somethingwas. I was in a new body, while disturbing, it was something that I could live with. I had come to terms with it earlier—I just couldn't think about what would be _best._

Best for me and _then_ the world. While it might be selfish, nothing would matter if I ended up dead.

I looked around the empty clinic. Quiet save for the sounds of a Shinra broadcast coming from the other room. It wasn't spotless by any means, but at least it was no longer making my skin itch to look at it. I sighed in contentment, thankful of the old man giving in to my fancies.

Not much has really happened throughout my time here. Truth be told I was kind of hoping that something would happen to break the stretch of boredom that I was experiencing. I had done my daily stretches already and didn't want to risk injuring myself further. Some sign to break the monotony that I found myself in.

Well, a sign other than an attack on the city or a reactor exploding. If I remembered correctly I now shared the same residential area with Aerith. It was also strange how she—or any of the slum kids for that matter—hadn't come to visit. Surely the prospect of something interesting would make them curious. The only thing I could reason for the lack of visitors was the adults warning them off. I guess I had become

The Turks were one thing to think about, my position in this community another. I wasn't sure what they all thought of me here. Other patients wouldn't give me anything other than quick cursory glances, clipped answers, and making absolutely no effort to get to know me. Very little small talk aside from my talks with the doctor.

Not a single real question was asked towards me also. It was almost as if they were treating me as something fragile—which in a sense I was. Very discerning. I would ask more pointed questions if I wasn't scared of the Turks getting interested in me.

I was sick and tired of being stuck inside the clinic. There was so much going on around me and nothing for me to do other than recover. I couldn't help but feel frustrated and have the need to _know_ grow inside of me. I wanted somebody that I could talk to. I wanted to find out more of my situation and news of the outside world.

As if my thoughts were heard, someone walked into the clinic and looked around, adjusting to the different levels of light. Upon his eyes settling on me, he grimaced, then nodded towards me. I was put off by the reaction, but wouldn't let this chance pass.

"Yo." I tilted my head back. "How's it going guy? Haven't seen your face around here before. What can I do for you?" I quickly fired off before he could turn away. Putting on a disarming smile.

I'm usually not very sociable and think too heavily before speaking, but practice helps.

I've been lacking practice.

My greetings had the man—a heavy-built guy with a scar across his face and a large two-handed mace at his belt—looking stunned. He had a black beard and wore simple clothes, a gold chain around his neck, and numerous accessories.

He was also very bald.

I was hoping that he would be disarmed by me talking like a gangster and my casual greeting. I was fairly small and frail looking. Instead, he slowly looked me over, his eyes roving over me. "You the kid the Turks brought in?" He almost growled out.

I straightened out at the first _real_ address that I've been given. Something other than a kid or just straight up ignoring me. Something was off about him—it took me a second to piece together. Nobody else that I've seen so far would openly wear anything valuable. There was also a...presence about him.

"Yeah. That's right." I drawled out. Popping the T with an audible click. "What's it to you?" I asked, turning my smile into a cocky grin.

"I came to talk to the doctor, instead I've got some punk ass kid questioning me as soon as I step in," he grounds out. A dark look crosses over his face that tells me to cut the shit. "Now where's the doctor?"

I pale at the sudden mood change. I had only been joking and looking for a reaction. The reaction seemed a bit too intense—either this man was unhinged or naturally terrifying. It almost seemed personal. A pressure filled the room and it terrified me. I almost pissed myself at the sudden shift and intense pressure.

Upon looking at my scared expression, he lets out a stiff chuckle. His features smooth over and he starts full-on laughing. The pressure eases away.

A smile starts tugging on his face. "Relax kid, I'm only fucking with you. It's nothing to get worked up over. Just came to pick up medicine for my men. We've got to clear out the coastline and I want to be prepared." He explains. The smile on his face seemed unnatural and predatory. I could now place the presence, it was like being around the mercenaries—only much more unnerving and intense. The feeling of barely restrained power.

I force a pained smile onto my face, all in trying to school my features and not show how terrified I really was. I didn't think I was very successful. To think that power had an actual presence similar to the hum of a generator. It was terrifying feeling it coming from a person, it wasn't just me being nervous around people. "Heh. Yeah, you got me good," I slowly trailed off, suddenly wanting this man to leave. Absorbing the other information that was said came second to watching him warily.

An awkward silence filled the room. I was unsure what to say, as did he. We eye each other carefully. The doctor chose that moment to poke his head in, probably alerted by his outburst earlier. "Ahh yes, I've been expecting you Guild-master. Come on in. Let's talk business," he said while gesturing towards his separate room.

I pale even more at the doctor's words. I gulp nervously. _'Did I just piss off somebody important? Guild-master sounds important. I don't want to worry about the Turks and the locals at the same time.'_

He walked into the room at the doctor's ushering and had a hushed discussion.

I tried listening in, but couldn't make anything that they said out. I was still slightly shaken by the confrontation and couldn't focus on what was being said. It was frustrating having to devote all of my attention to pick apart a conversation. It didn't make sense how it worked. You were supposed to just passively understand a language completely. Not whatever _this_ was _._

He came out looking perplexed—never a good sign—and looked me over once again. A confused look came over his face. Something about what was said seemed to confuse him. Confused him of what, I couldn't tell. Maybe he didn't think that I should be aware and talking because of the mako poisoning. I was feeling too timid around his presence to speak up.

He walked over to my bed with a stern look crossing onto his face. Walking slowly and eyeing me up and down. He stood there silently for half a minute, intimidating the hell out of me. All I could think about was the expression from before. The _'cut the shit'_ look. "How are you doing kid?" He eventually settled on quietly asking.

I gulped uneasily. The _look_ reverberating through my mind again. His presence seemed to suffocate me with the invisible pressure, making it difficult to talk.

I decided to go for as truthful as I can get. Anything to get him _out._ "I'm fairly sure I'm going to be up and moving in a couple days, sir," I shakily state. "I've been recovering at a ridiculous rate, but I'm not sure that the meds are doing much. I'd rather eat solid food again than to continue eating whatever I've been given. I know medicine is put in it," I say with conviction—"it tastes too awful for there _not_ to be anything in it." It felt weird and wrong putting everything out like that—to state my own abnormality. I was used to standing out, but mainly due to my old height. Now I was maybe 5'5 and the difference was making itself known. It was hard to measure when I couldn't stand up easily.

"Alright then. I see how your stay here has been so far." He turned away and went back into the room with the doctor, leaving me stunned at the quick talk. I heard a small bit of their conversation—something about me not needing what I was given—but I couldn't pick together each and every word. They argued a bit over a price for what was owed. _'Owed for what though?'_

He eventually paid the old man so he could carry out some hi-potions in a tightly bundled bag. The doctor seemed hesitant, but looking at my state made him confirm the deal.

Something was up with this.

He avoided my questioning gaze like the plague as I watched them both talking.d He also seemed apologetic to the man and me. He wished the both of us good night as the other man was leaving. I was intrigued about the situation. Even thoughts on the fear that the bald guild-master could instill by being in the same room was ignored in favor of trying to figure it out.

I settled in and watched the lights outside flicker out, thinking back on the day and what it implied.

* * *

I got no medicine that night.

Instead, I was presented with the crab legs, which I learned were whole eater legs—the cockroach-like monsters of the slums. The meat was flaky and poor quality. It was so bad I was wondering what I _wouldn't_ do for a good, old-fashioned, American hamburger.

It was because of what I admitted to the man—essentially all my fault. I was frustrated at the turn of events. I had been strong-armed into spilling my true thoughts so easily it was almost laughable. I was denied a resource and saw _no gains_ from giving it up. Unacceptable. I could've used that medicine for when I got out and saw none of the money that was exchanged. Was that the old man just getting himself drinks by selling my medicine?

It was now late and I was seething.

The amount the old man drank after the deal was an absurd amount. There was something else at play—most likely mako—because there was no way a human liver could handle that much liquor. With how old he was, I was honestly surprised that there were no lasting effects to him drinking as much as he did. It was interesting to think about, but didn't keep me distracted from my stewing anger.

I was up all night breaking the scenario down in my head over and over. How the man so casually came in and said what he wanted regardless of the Turks. How I was unable to do _anything_ in the face of that terrifying presence. If I couldn't stand up to that, how would I stand up to the monsters of the world? I felt useless.

I felt _trapped._

The feeling of fleas jumping underneath my skin intensified and had me more on edge. It was starting to become painful and I would constantly check my skin for small bites. It made me want to get up and move. I was seriously annoyed at what had happened. It was obvious Tseng wanted the doctor to look out for me: to feed me and give me a place to stay while I recover. He was as Elmyra was to Aerith—just much less caring. That medicine was for _me_. Even if it wasn't working as intended it was still mine.

He hadn't used it on the several other patients that came in when I thought back. Not even those that looked like they needed it more. I tried not to think of the kid that came in on my first day but ultimately failed. He hadn't used it on him either. My first brush with death left an impression on me. I did not want to end up like that. I needed to get _out._

I'm an orderly person. When things get out of order it takes a tremendous amount of willpower to not drop everything and make it correct. If someone is sick and prescribed medicine, it's only logical that the next step is they get it. But nonetheless, I wasn't _too_ put off. I couldn't worry about that. I had more important things to focus on now.

Things like getting up and out of this prison.

Checking to make sure I heard the even breathing of the doctor in the other room, I firmly planted both feet on the ground and grimaced as I put weight on both my feet. I directed my anger towards moving and walking, shunting the vestiges of pain I felt to the back of my mind and slowly went through small motions, ignoring the quivering that was threatening to bring me to my knees. I strained against the signals my body was telling me to stop. Like a dam was breaking, I suddenly became aware of how to correctly move and stand after some shuffling. The feeling of fleas intensified to that of a light burning, then promptly faded back to the usual amount.

I shakily stood on both my legs with my hands on the bed supporting me. I brought them both up to my chest and kept my balance. I pulled my hand back from supporting me on the bed and was proud to note that I still retained my balance. Pulling them back revealed light indents on the frame, which I ignored in favor of reveling in the feeling of standing by myself.

Somehow, anti-climatically, it worked.

' _Limit break: Stop being a cripple.'_ I grimly thought, chuckling dryly to myself. The tension I didn't realize I had was seemingly shedding off of me.

I was still angry. The relief of not being a true cripple was overshadowed by my realizations. I could tell that I would be doing much more than walking soon in some strange sense, much like how much my body was still tingling. I realized that the obstacle I overcame was mainly mental. It wasn't that I _couldn't_ walk, it was that I hadn't tried fully. I needed to _use_ my body to become used to it. Sitting on my ass all day was counter-productive to what I wanted. It was obvious now that I realized it. Not something obvious since I never had any serious injuries before.

I was feeling drained by my efforts. Maybe I really had used a limit break. Everything felt much less alien to me: less twitches and better response time as I started jerkily walking around. I was now more determined to get out and _do_ something now that I could. It wouldn't do to go running off in the middle of the night though. Monsters and Turks prowled then.

Before that, I would need to figure out when things started _if they haven't already._ That was a worrying thought. But things weren't blowing up, and that's a sure sign that they did. I wasn't excited about the things to come, but learning to fight was my best bet at staying alive.

I mean, I've played the game, I can't fathom how regular people would fight some of the things that plague this world. Let alone how they would survive being caught in the crossfire of the chaos to come. After all, if it _is_ anything like the game then I would have to deal with a world that was full of monsters, corrupt corporations, mad scientists, the creations of said mad scientists, a calamity, and a walking god.

I needed to figure out how to beat all of these things.

It wasn't my responsibility as a new addition to the world, but what was the point of knowing what's going to happen if not to prepare for it? It didn't mean I had to. I could always just support the protagonist without having to fight at all. I was going to do it because I would just never feel safe unless I could.

I didn't want to feel helpless again.

* * *

Today was the day I'd leave.

I wanted _out_ with my newfound mobility. I wasn't above using every dirty trick I could think of to get out. I pleaded and annoyed the old man until he seemed to...just give up. He was shocked about my sudden recovery, but his check up showed that nothing was wrong. That this was more along the lines of what he expected. I had a sneaking suspicion he was thinking I'd get myself killed or something would end up killing me. He must've decided that was the only way I'd stop bothering him.

I'd like to think I was better than that, but I wanted _out._

He unceremoniously opened up the door and pointed out, and I stupidly realized he was just letting me outside of the clinic for the first time. For the _first_ time. I had been cooped up here for what felt like months. I felt joy swell up inside my chest, I wasn't getting further screwed by life and was just given my pathway to independence instead.

My bright mood quickly turned around when I realized just where I was—the slums specifically. I stepped out of the dimly lit clinic into a smog filled Midgar with my smile fading. The smog was piled up near to the top of the plate, effectively limiting eyesight to several feet.

It was eerie hearing people move around in the distance and the scuffling of feet but not being able to see or pinpoint where it was coming from. It was oppressing with how thick some areas were covered in the fog. Midgar housed many factories in the upper plates. While most of the pollution is filtered out of the city, there is still a large amount that sticks around. Most of which is down here in the slums.

"Shitty ventilation shafts broken again," The doctor grumbled beside me, making me start. "it's will be several days before Shinra sends someone to fix it. Never giving shit about anything wrong in slums." He almost spat out.

I hadn't expected him to follow me out, and it must've been the most I heard him say while not trying to actively understand everything.

The old man was leaning against the doorway scowling and looking vaguely up. He ran a hand through his graying hair. There was still some dark color near the roots as everyone that visited the clinic seemed to have darker colored hair. I had a feeling it would be easy to find Cloud. I felt confident winning that 'where's the protagonist' game.

The old man looked thoughtful and a bit worried, eyes tightening when looking at the underside of the plate above. We both took in the sights for a moment, everything looked almost peaceful with the smog clouds rolling listlessly through, giving brief moments of unimpeded sight. It quickly dried my mouth as if I had smoked an entire packet of cigarettes. The old man grinned when he heard me smacking my mouth in distaste I was spoken to from behind.

"Better get used to that smell," he laughed at my scrunched up face. "I don't want you to go far from the clinic, get in trouble, or somehow get yourself killed. Also, don't bother anybody It's bad enough with the Turks around because of the Gainsborough girl and now you. If something happened to either of you they'd come swarming so don't do anything stupid. The lights turn off at 10, be back by then or else you'll have to find your way back in the dark," he promptly told me, setting the ground rules. I realized I had spent a long time cooped up with him, but never deemed to figured his name because I was so focused on my goal of _out_.

I didn't know what to say and was feeling pretty guilty, so I just awkwardly waved towards him— earning me a confused look. Right, I haven't seen anybody wave since I've been here, it's all about bowing and showing respect in this culture. I internally frowned at my mistake, I came to far too mess up here.

With a sheepish smile, I set off unsure of my destination.

It felt great to fully stretch out my legs and walk through the smog clouds to see what was on the other side.

Wandering randomly and staying near the sector 5 encampment had me on edge, as I knew that monsters wandered the slums. I wasn't sure if that was something I had to worry about. In the game, no monsters attacked while you were there. I felt a bit more safe with that but still remained wary.

Maybe I was worried for nothing. The encampment was secure and I could see people milling around. People that were heavily armed and made me feel calmer just knowing they were there, even if they weren't in the game. Rusty looking shotguns, long swords, and what looked like high caliber rifles being the most popular among the mercenaries and guards. I nodded to a few that I got to meet and they returned the greeting with smiles, happy to see me out and about.

Looking around I saw that almost everyone was armed, even the kids had Sharp objects playing games. I listened in and it seemed they were playing games such as 'hunt the hedgehog pie' or SOLDIER. It was fascinating to see how normal people who weren't holed up in a clinic lived and I drank it all in.

It wasn't hard to notice the boundary of the camp. It was a dense wall of metal scraps and stone chunks with only one entrance. Through the smog, I could see that it wasn't perfectly built, as there were many small holes but for the most part was solid. The entrance wasn't obviously guarded I noticed three people staying close to the entryway hands close to their weapons. They were always facing it, eyeing anybody that came through.

They seemed tense, most likely because of how hard it was to see. As if they expected something. The entrance loomed in front of me, almost calling me towards it.

This is your opportunity to slip away—it seemed to beckon.

I knew that it was foolish. I wouldn't be able to make it to Sector 7 with how I was now. That would be akin to suicide by monster. Sure, I could easily integrate myself into the plot by rushing towards 7th Heaven. There was only one problem.

I couldn't see myself being brought along at all.

In the game Cloud really only brought people that could fight or support the party somehow. Instead of foolishly running off I decided to walk and become more familiar with the full layout of the camp. I took note of several signs—which I couldn't read—and several key places. It truly was a realistic version of the game.

I was scared to go towards where I knew Aerith's house was in my wanderings, as I don't know how the meeting would go or what would come out of it. I was suddenly glad that the adults warned off the kids meeting me. That would've been awkward being confined to a bed at the mercy of the flower girl. Knowing her she would most likely try to heal me. I doubted that it would've worked—even with her healing powers. Leading to her trying to figure me out and ask questions I'd rather not answer.

I figured I've done a great job with not freaking out. The reasoning behind that is I've always had a goal or objective to set my mind on. Something to keep me focused. Something to strive towards and something actually attainable. Nothing like 'going back home' or something along those lines. I firmly believe that reaching for the impossible is unhealthy. I skirt around that by first building up the steps necessary to reach that impossible goal to make it more possible.

With the time to myself, I was starting to feel a little bit lost now that I explored the compound in the entirety.

Which is probably a good thing that a small group of sector 5 kids decided to approach me after several hours of wandering, following me discreetly, and occasionally leering at me during the brief moments of full visibility washing over the area.

I had noticed them earlier, but I was intent on getting to know the layout of the compound. Get to know my new prison better. I was still trapped here until I learned how to fight my way through the slums. I was just hoping that me learning how to fight didn't get the Turks to come sniffing. They allowed Aerith to learn how to fight with that combat staff of hers.

I watched as a spiky blue haired boy came towards me. Leading two others that were currently obscured by the fog. His eyes held intent and bountiful energy behind them. Looking at his hair I was suddenly unsure of how crazy Cloud's hair was in this world. Was that a natural hair color?

The kid came forward, his companions stopping shortly behind him and wheezing."Who are you? My name's Jakayo. I haven't seen you around here before. Do you want to join our gang?" The boy in front of me boldly and loudly exclaims. A taller girl beside him steps out of the fog with her palm meeting her face, resulting in a loud smack.

I noted that she also has blue hair and stood closest to the short leader. So it was probably the older sister. They both also had blue eyes which looked strange with the hair. A short kid with greasy brown hair, eyes, and sporting goggles was standing just behind her with his arms crossed trying to look imposing. A third figure emerges from the dense smoke.

The feeling I got from the mercenaries emitted from him. A bigger teen with black hair shoots me a glare but comes out of the smoke swinging his sword. He was performing katas and grunting with effort—fighting imaginary foes.

The taller girl steps forward, lightly pushing the leader back. "What he means is that we haven't seen you around here before. I'm Tessa, this idiot's sister. Are you new to sector 5?" The girl explains exasperatedly. The brown hair kid nods eagerly along with her.

I was mentally checking myself to make sure I understood them correctly, and a beat later I responded. I felt comfortable talking in the language now, but I would still have to think about what I said. It really was freakish how fast I was learning.

I was happy these kids seemed so carefree talking to me, nothing like their adult counterparts who would ignore me as politely as they could. "You could say that. I've been sick and stuck in the clinic." I give off a laugh. It felt so _good_ to state that I was now out, to show that progress was made. I adopted a grin and the gangster slouch, ready to impress them with what I learned. "The name's…" I frowned. Nothing came to the front of my mind.

I tried again. "The name is…" Still, nothing came to me. My frown deepened.

"My name is—" Nothing. No answer was supplied.

' _What?'_

A sour mood set upon me.

How do I forget something so simple? All that time spent in the clinic and I didn't once think about my name? Did nobody ask for my _name?_ I frantically searched my memories but came up blank. The anger that came with realizing how much I was missing flared up and set the feeling of fleas biting to start up.

The kids took a step back while the teen looked up from his imaginary battle.

' _What is this? Is this when the enter character name would prompt?'_ I bitterly thought.

Everything seemed to slowly lock up, uncomfortably reminding me of how I began. I don't understand how this never came up the entire time I've been here. They seem to notice something is up with me. Almost all of them.

"You're the chem-hog my dad talks about! The one taking all the medicine from the clinic." Jakayo blurts out, his sister instantly looking mortified when she realizes what was said. She almost seemed to blur when she spun around towards him.

"Jakayo what did dad say about making an ass out of yourself?" She chastises him, lightly smacking his arm, then turns towards me and bows.

An actual bow. Not only did it confirm that the culture here was different, it was also the first time someone ever bowed to me. I took a good look at the group. They looked in their early teens, underfed, and dirt smeared. They couldn't be more than 16. I probably looked similar to them in their eyes. It was a strange feeling having someone bow to me and it made me slightly uncomfortable.

She raised her head. "Please excuse my little brother. He can be a bit excitable sometimes, especially meeting new people." She gives me a disarming smile. "Like I said, I'm Tessa, this here is Jonni," the brown haired kid gives a bow himself with a wide smile accompanying it. His goggles almost fall off his face "And moody back there is Rilo." The black haired teen pauses for a moment, looks as if he is going to argue, then decides against it to go back to swinging.

Several seconds tick by before I realize she was waiting for my answer or name. Apparently, they didn't realize that I had no idea.

"Ahhh about that. I'm not really sure if I remember it. I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now. That's all. Everything seems to be happening so fast that I'm having a hard time concentrating." I flashed a smile, then addressed Jakayo. "I'll be happy to join your gang if it gives me something to do." I manage to mumble out—still seething from my realization of lost memories.

They seemed to accept in and started talking amongst themselves. I focused inwards to sort out the turmoil going on inside of me.

' _What else had been lost? How do you even explain that you don't remember your name? All that time in the clinic learning about this world and I barely ever thought about my old one. Just about the game and what would come.'_ I realized that my priorities were skewed.

I was dragged out of my thoughts by a tugging at my hand. "That's fine! I'll show you around our territory." The blue haired kid Jakayo remarked, ignoring the lack of name provided, or just not caring.

I figured just following along was better than pointlessly thinking or wandering around. He seemed like a nice enough kid, and I didn't remember him from the game at all so I wasn't worried about messing anything up in a butterfly effect scenario.

There were a surprising amount of kids in the slums, probably a little over a dozen. Almost none of them were homeless and all had work to do. The ones that had no support or couldn't work didn't make it this far Rilo morbidly informed me with a grimace on his face. Jakayo and Tessa's father ran the materia store in town. They had the free time to wander around because a big mercenary company rolled through last week and bought the store clean out. Jonni's father did construction and lived in one of the only two story houses in the camp—leaving him home alone often. Rilo was the group 'bodyguard' as Jakayo insisted.

Given the fact that none of them knew all of their parents, death really wasn't an uncommon thing in the outskirts of the slums.

I trailed behind them in a haze. I only barely noticed the childish tour and explanations of each stop I was seeing once again—opinions of who lived there loudly declared by Jakayo. The adults seemed to recognize me or at least knew who I was because they made it a point to introduce me and laugh off Jakayo's remarks. I didn't know my reputation as 'that kid the Turks brought in' preceded me.

I learned that there were a little over 80 people living in the camp. Most were out hunting monsters. It's the most reliable form of business this close to the walls separating Midgar and the outside world. The small compound had the staple weapon, materia, and item store trifecta that can be seen throughout any town—or really anywhere that has monsters nearby. We never actually went to Aerith's house thankfully, it was just where "that pretty flower lady lives," according to Jakayo. I saw Rilo blush when Aerith was mentioned.

They must have thought I was a little bit odd keeping to myself and not talking much. I wouldn't blame them if they did. I still couldn't get over the fact that I didn't know my name. How did that happen? I could remember others names and general things but anything going into too much detail about me came up blank now that I _really_ thought about it.

It was disconcerting and shamed me to have taken this long to just realize this. I've never been the most self-aware. That I could remember that but not my name pissed me off. The time that I should've used worrying about _me_ ,not my situation, felt just a bit wasted.

I shook my head when something seemed off, snapping out of it. It was a strange sense—akin to the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. I noted a second later that all the kids were looking off in a direction. I strained my ears and could barely hear gunshots, the metal walls damping the sounds. It's impressive that they caught it so fast. I would guess that living in the slums sharpens your survival instincts. They took off in a rush eager to see what was happening, shouting and calling out to each other in excitement. I had to stumble behind in the smog just to catch up. The sounds were coming from the gate.

So much for survival instincts, running _towards_ the gunshots.

When we got to the gate the battle had already concluded. It was less of a battle and more of a funneled grind because the bloodstains barely got 20 feet beyond the entrance. I barely paused at the sight of so much blood, used to the scene from the clinic.

A dozen beefy hobgoblins—because that's all they could be—were piled up haphazardly by the gate guards. Most of the corpses were riddled with bullet holes, with the rest ran through with swords and spears. The weapons the goblinoids carried were sorted off to the side and were all crudely made, some were just jagged chunks of metal. Half a dozen people were talking and keeping watch with a few sifting through both piles. From what I could make out it was a small raid from a goblin faction that lived nearby that was trying to take advantage of the smog.

Shock lanced through me. A dozen constituted as a small raid?

We managed to scurry closer past some adults to get a better look. All of us except for Rilo. He went to talk to the main cluster of adults and find out more.

I breathed in deeply, taking in the scent of battle and monsters. Iron and sweat were prevalent.

Actual monsters.

I stared openly with worry plain on my face. It was one thing to know and another to stare directly at proof. Even if the proof was littered with bullet holes and not moving, it's still proof. Each of the hobgoblins was around 5 feet and had thick knotted muscles. Tessa and Jakayo were bickering about going past the gate to go help hunt monsters, which Tessa vehemently denied him to even think about, and Jonni started poking the bodies with a pipe he picked up.

In a sudden moment of inspiration gained from looking at the massacre—I spoke up.

"My name is Vice." I firmly ground out.

The siblings quit their bickering and Jonni looked up at my declaration, ceasing his corpse poking.

I'm not sure what exactly made me declare it as soundly as I did. The act helped solidify my resolve that I was now part of this world. This strange world where I knew things that could help _and_ break people.

Vice, a problem or weakness.

That's what I would be to anything that tried to take control away from my life. The biggest problem of their god damn life. I wasn't above fighting dirty or fair.

It seemed a fitting name at the very least. The name of the hobgoblins in the game was named that. I continued to stare out at the corpses piled up. The group of children, hearing me speak again after following them around near silently, slowly turned towards me and gave me strange looks.

I realized I may have a complex with being in control of my life. Especially after the vat. I'm not dense enough to think that everything can be controlled, but when I feel others try to take control or direct me too much from my path, I would do anything to wrench it back.

 _Anything—_ Hence the name Vice.

The kids seemed to mull what I said over. "That's a stupid name! It took you that long to remember a stupid name like that? Did you get hit on the head and that's why you're hogging all the medicine?!" Jakayo shows no remorse and is completely oblivious to the serious aura I'm trying to project. At least Tessa has the decency to look ashamed for him. I shouldn't of expected kids to realize just how much of a decision naming yourself is. Your name is what you see yourself as. Knowing yourself is how you control yourself.

Groaning, I look down not wanting to explain further. How do you explain you picked the name of the first enemy you see to remind yourself this isn't a game, and every time you hear it you would be reminded without sounding crazy? The definitions probably weren't the same in this language anyway.

Down by my feet I see a dirty glass bottle dropped by the hobgoblins. It's slightly cracked and has murky looking liquid inside of it. I pick it up and show it off instead of explaining, trying to change the topic and get their attention on something else.

A voice made itself known behind me. "Better get rid of that, that's speed." Rilo somehow made his way over without me noticing, and quickly too. I just gave him a look.

' _Speed as in speed potion or some kind of street drug? I knew you could steal the potions from the enemies piled nearby in-game, but does that transitions to the real world? In the game there is literally no chance of it dropping when the monster died from battle, only reaffirming that this isn't a game.'_ I made a note to look into it later because I have a hard time believing that goblins can synthesize it.

' _Where the hell did it come from then?'_ I mused.

"Can I take it back with me to the clinic?" I asked mind whirring. This was an opportunity. The dark haired Rilo just shrugged, not really caring. That seemed to be the general attitude of everybody I've met so far.

"Just don't ingest it, that stuff is dangerous, especially for someone young." He laid out, then steps back to admonish Jonni about poking dead bodies.

Jonni just grins.

Rilo's comment about my age confused me. I was put into a small teenagers body, I knew that, even though I know that I was older. I'm not sure how much older but just the general knowledge that I am. Being labeled as a teenager feels _wrong_. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to go through puberty again. I shuddered at the thought.

Quickly the arguing siblings father came for them. He was a stout man with colorful blue hair, looking much like the them in every aspect. There was now no group cohesion due to the group losing its 'leader'.

Jonni, and Rilo didn't split ways immediately when the other two left, but when the novelty of having a new person in the group wore off and the questions they asked were things I didn't know how to answer—the other two went their separate ways. Jonni was a nice kid, which is a nice way of saying he wasn't the smartest, but he didn't really take charge or give his opinion on anything. It made it hard to talk to him since his questions were simple.

Rilo seemed to be focusing on his sword, just outright ignoring talk after a few quipped questions in favor of training.

With nothing better to do, I decided to head back to the clinic, clutching my combat Adderall bottle tightly in my hands. I decided it'd be best to ask the clinic owner about it. Asking someone who takes care of people for a living must have some knowledge about it. When presented with it the old man smelled it, shrugged, and downed it in one go. I was speechless, not knowing what to say, and when he got a glazed look on his face I was dumbfounded. I take it back. The old man really is a good for nothing even with all the help he gave me.

I was a bit upset over the loss of my drugs. I was hoping to sell it until I realized that I would be selling drugs. Maybe even worse was my gamer's instinct to hoard it until I needed it. Not even that long in Midgar and I'm wanting to get my hands on _all_ the drugs to see how the effects compared to the game. I was a bit worried that I wanted to systematically test drugs but shrugged it off.

I didn't know how to fight the monsters, so I needed every edge I could get. Combat enhancers could, well, enhance those edges. If the edge was double sided and I might turn into a drug fueled addict, I'd still take it.

It was better than dead.

I half-heartedly pestered the old man a bit about taking my drugs, but he was well and truly out of it by then. He shifted his attention to a patient and went about setting his broken arm. I protested more out of spirit as I wasn't truly annoyed, there would always be more to find.

By now it was getting dark with the lights overhead dimming slightly, then cut off. I never would've expected that just walking around and talking to kids would literally be the most eventful day of my life. They really wore me out as it's been the most I've moved since I've shown up to the damn world. I was asleep on my feet, happy that things seemed to be moving forward and thinking about where I could take it from here.

Progress was a wonderful thing.


	4. Chapter 3- Plausible Possibility

Life in 'market' was nice. There was no real reason that the camp was called market aside from that it has got stores and it's in the middle of nowhere. I think it was named in an ironic way of saying fuck you to the Don who runs Wall Market who seems to be universally hated. There are only the 3 stores and a caravan that buys monster parts twice a week, not much to warrant being called a market. It was strange seeing an actual chocobo attached to the cart that carried the parts, they are one of the only domesticated monsters and that's only barely domesticated. The are still plenty in the wild and hard to tame without exceptional skill and resources. The caravan drivers use them to scare away smaller common pests that the chocobo is the natural predator to being a giant 9 foot bird. Which is a must in the monster infested slums.

Monster infested is really the only way to describe it as they appear to be everywhere. Around market there are only 3 types of local threats that are consistently a problem. The 'vice' which are a minor hobgoblin faction. While stupid they are still ridiculously strong and fast, but focus more towards stealing and mugging than outright killing. Killing humans leads to nasty retaliation they learned, but they will commonly fight other monsters so are left alone. They sometimes raid but only when they run low on drugs, which they go crazy over anything they can get high off of.

Next is the 'whole eater' which are chitinous leeches with 4 legs. If leeches were 3 meters long, came in packs, and ate anything including metal. They morbidly get their name from them eating prey, as the namesake implies, whole. While they have jagged teeth they usually use their scythe like tails to attack, as their teeth have a habit of punching through their gums and mouth when closed too quickly, and they avoid damaging the sensitive ring of eyes situated around their mouth.

Last are 'hedgehog pies' which are imp like hedgehog/frog creatures that have somehow evolved with a weak type of fire materia naturally forming inside them. It was terrifying seeing it standing on two frail looking legs the first time I saw it. While small they have a habit of being territorial and will defend their mako pools with suicidal fervor. There is no real way of removing the crystal Mako inside them as it shatters when the host dies but it is possible to use a live one to cast fire by forcibly channeling mako into it. Nobody is crazy enough to do that though. Then again nobody is as fascinated with magic as I am.

Mako is a strange thing. You might as well call it mana because it is damn near everywhere on Gaia, which is the name of the planet. It even runs diluted inside people. Some locations it's more dense than others, which results in stronger monsters and more exotic materia. Shinra has tried mimicking high density mako areas by condensing the area to mako ratio which lead to...interesting results if the gossip of what the people have seen Shinra soldiers use. Shinra will occasionally send in recruits to go on monster hunts to gain experience. Most of them growing up on the plate have never seen a monster or materia before.

Naturally forming materia crystallizes over the centuries that it forms, but the artificially made ones are almost malleable. They allow humans to cast magic, or more specifically, influence the world by channeling mako into it while expending the mind. I was able to hold a mercenaries 'sense' and feel it. But as soon as I tried to channel mako into it he snatched it away. Apparently it's rude to use someone's materia without asking, as some people can sense how strong it is just by holding it. The stronger it is the more of a target it makes for stealing. Reasons being when materia is close to holding the max amount of mako, it splits, creating a new type of what it was at a base level.

It's strange how the hedgehog pies reproduce through almost the exact same way. I wouldn't of believed it if my experiments hadn't of shown me. I had captured one that managed to slip in the cracks in the wall and was using it to practice my mako flow, or how easily I can channel it through a conduit out of my body. That was agreed the only way that humans can cast made learning much more difficult with an unwilling subject, but it was worth it seeing little puffs of fire materialize from thin air. After over a week of this and feeding it scraps I was surprised when a tumor like growth detached after just a day of growing, leaving behind a mini-replica of it blind and stumbling. It freaked me out enough to get rid of both of them with two well placed stomps. I wasn't a Hojo in the making and wanted nothing to do with monster experiments.

The 'gang' had somehow recruited me into their folds as bodyguard now that Rilo stopped hanging out with them. The goblin attack really must of got to him because he was never around, constantly bothering people to let him go on hunts with them, eventually succeeding. The group wasn't put off by me not talking much, as I'm not really the most sociable and Rilo was even worse at interactions than me. He still showed up from time to time but always dedicated his time to fighting monsters and bringing back parts. He was something that everyone in the camp was proud of, they were glad that he was so driven and not getting distracted by things that other places or Wall Market had to offer. Too often kids grew up in the slums resentful of the things they didn't grow up with and take it out on everyone else or self destruct.

The adults and the old man running the clinic managed to convince me to pick up something to fight with, even though I wasn't confident with my fighting ability. They weren't happy with my lack of defense and told me anything was better than nothing, unless I've been trained for that specifically. Saying that they gave me some shoes to wear and to try to find something in a pile of jagged metal. I guess I can understand that since I am older than the kids that I should watch out for them since I don't have much else to do other than run simple errands for scraps and small amounts of Gil. And it's better to learn weapons sooner, rather than later. I just didn't want to seem too strange picking up weapons and practicing as soon as i'm out of the clinic.

I ended up using dual whole eater tooth knives as they were the sharpest and most durable thing around. Much better than carrying around a live monster to cast weak spells anyways. It was a simple thing of wrapping leather around the base, the tooth was already made for killing and maiming and only needed sharpening. It was free too as I found the teeth near the entrance. So I made plenty of them, at the very least I could throw them at things. Most went into the deep hidden pocket in the jeans that I was wearing. I haven't had any experience fighting monsters as I'm still not allowed out of the gates and the slaughter of catch the pie game doesn't count. Four kids running after a terrified fleeing monster isn't battle experience, no matter what Jakayo says!

I still managed to practice handling the knives though so I don't cut myself if I ever use them. My favorite past-time was twirling them in my hands, and I was ready to move on to something more exotic as I was getting too used to it, dedicating hours a day to practice. I was thinking about throwing them up in the air and fighting with multiple blades, but the dexterity required for that is way too high. Preparing to use the knives in fights didn't seem to help me at all when I turned around to see Tseng staring at me and managed to drop a knife slicing open my right hand while squawking.

"You've grown since I've last seen you. I almost didn't recognize you."

And he was right. Scary way of being right which is arguably the best way. I've been going through a growth spurt since I've been up and moving. I've grown several inches and was almost to the man's shoulders, finally filling out my only pair of clothes. I clutched my hand and willed the mako to flow towards it. The tingling sensation of fleas bouncing underneath my skin came back and seemed to congregate on the area. It was no cure and wouldn't heal it instantly but as long as I concentrated on it, it would speed the body's response rate. Materia wasn't needed for this as the mako was just influencing my body, not the natural laws.

What do I say to him though? It's been over two months since I've seen the man and he just pops out of nowhere. I was a bit dumbstruck because frankly I hadn't expected to see him until things get started along, especially after leaving with no word at all. I guess leaving me with medicine was testament to his interest in me looking back. Luckily enough he had no trouble leading the conversation.

"How have you been Vice? I see you have recovered remarkably well, do you happen to remember anything since the last time we met?"

"I've been doing fine, and -" I shook my head in the negative "nothing really, I barely remember how I got here anyways." He doesn't seem shocked that I can now speak, which is still freakishly fast. Or that I have recovered already, mako is bullshit. I wasn't surprised that he somehow knew my name either at all.

"What do you think of this place?" He asked which caught my attention. Asking specific like he was looking for something. I wasn't sure how to answer, the abrupt pace throwing me off, so I managed to go for truth and honest opinion. I figured if he wanted to kill me I would of been dead when he first pointed his gun at me. Anyways I wasn't worried in the least, Aerith was untouched for years until she started associating with AVALANCHE the terrorist organization that the plot follows.

"It's quiet here, out of the way, and not much danger as opposed to some of the other sectors."

From what I picked up this was one of the nicer areas in the slums. Sure we didn't have much in the way of options or luxury, but there was always work. Work in making this place stay nice. No stronger monsters, just common pest and the nuisance or two. Strange how they didn't consider hobgoblins or murder leeches a big threat. But the people worked to keep the monster population down so we aren't overrun like sector 6 and to keep basic necessities functioning.

"And the people?" He asked. The people? Is that what he wanted to know? As a Turk I would think he would know about everyone in here, but I guess they don't have the time for everything. I haven't had any problems with anybody. In other slums there was always the risk of getting mugged and killed just for a few gil. This place was about as good as it got in the slums, and the people just as much so. Suspiciously so, almost as if the ones who weren't were taken care of.

"Everyone here is helpful, if not a bit rough." My thoughts went in on the old man. He really was about the worst person in the camp, but he was too useful to get rid of conveniently. "Still nobody causes trouble and is nice."

He nods like that was what he expected. Then truly surprised me for the second time.

"And the flower girl?"

Oh, I see what this is about. He's worried about Aerith. Good thing I had made it a point to avoid her house, rebuking all attempts made by the children to see her. It was a good excuse because I 'actually' haven't met her. She hasn't made any efforts to see me like Tseng is just now, but she is usually out selling flowers getting rides from the caravan that comes through. Putting on my best poker face I did my best to put uncertainty and confusion into my voice.

"Who?"

He looked at me confused for a solid thirty seconds. Yeah it's a small place, but it's perfectly reasonable that I wouldn't of met someone yet, even if I have been living here for quite some time. No reason to doubt me, even though she is popular and comes up in conversations all the time. Anyways I have been busy practicing fighting, getting tips from the mercenaries that hunt monsters, and learning more about the city.

"Go meet her when you get the chance. I'm sure you two would be good friends."

I nodded hopefully convincingly, then instantly rejected the idea. The only thing I would be visiting is her house to pilfer the materia that I know is sequestered there. I don't know how it would mess things up if some freaky Cetra shit would happen and my origins was exposed. It was convenient to be able to claim being experimented on, but if that was the cause of me waking up here, or something else I couldn't know. I aimed to find out when I get my hands on Hojo soon though, because I bet he had something to do with it. When I found out who took my life away from me and decided to play god, well I already planned to deicide. What's killing a faux god when you have to kill a planet scale calamity. Until then I was going to avoid Aerith if I could help it. She would make good friends with everybody, being ridiculous sweet and kind to people, almost unheard of in the slums so she didn't need another one at all.

Now that I think about it Tseng was..awkward. The man had no idea how to talk to children. He was blunt and after his objective of questioning me was over with he seemed...lost. We didn't spend much longer with what I assumed was a checkup, but he did remark about the knives. Apparently knives fell out of practice years ago, the blade isn't long enough to cause damage to stronger or bigger types of monsters, and requires ridiculous dexterity, which most monsters have humans outclassed in. Even mako enhanced ones such as in SOLDIER. That's an ominous though.

But long swords were all the rage, and for good reason too. Sephiroth perfected the mako enhanced combat with them, inspiring others. Using the angle of the blade to cut off faster opponents path of attacks and area denial, the length to cut large swathes of lesser hordes down with sweeps, and the tip for precision strikes on tougher monsters were all styles made and used by him. It was ridiculously well rounded, and when Tseng asked why the daggers, when guns or swords would be better I told him what my thoughts were. Small and easy.

First and foremost I wanted mobility. This isn't a game where you stand and take a hit, then give a hit in return. I know one of the biggest drawbacks of the small blades is that there isn't much reach or room for materia, but I don't have any yet. I can always put it on my armor when I get some. If I understood correctly it doesn't even need to be on your armor or weapon, most put it there for convenience and to free up hands, it just needs to be close to the body.

My next point was it's much easier to go for vitals with a small fast object than a several meter sword and harder to track. I understand that it isn't an issue with masters or those used to the blade, but I've never really handled weapons before. Knives were easy to use. Ridiculously easy. Easy to get and make also. Brutally efficient if used correctly.

Sure I was aware of the drawbacks. But magic and drugs can make up for a hell of alot of those things. I really needed to get the materia soon. It would help my shortcomings immensely. Maybe even a gun. But a good gun that holds up to monsters outside of the city would be heavily restricted and expensive. I mean grenades are considered worse and less damaging and effective to monsters than military grade guns in this world, I'd love to see what those guns could do...

Then he really looked at my knives, and realizing it was custom made and remembering my remark of cheap he actually laughed. It was a bit unnerving hearing the deep throaty chuckle and watching his chest shaking. Then he left giving me his name and I was stuck wondering just what the hell happened. It was a surreal experience, not entirely unpleasant though. I did learn a lot even if it was sudden and he didn't try to get me to join Shinra or anything.

Wait, oops, I didn't know his name. I must seem like a strange kid for the slums, talking to strangers without a care or worry. Talking to strangers about the merits of weapons. Not even asking any questions of my own like who are you, why are you watching me, why do you have sunglasses and a black suit when we are in the slums and it's bright and hot out. Any of those really. Maybe next time, because I knew we would meet again.

* * *

I actually took Tseng's advice of meeting Aerith. Sort of. I went to her house in the dead of night rifling through the garden in the back by the light of a lantern hung out front. The sort of part was if I met her when I was caught still entails meeting her. I initially panicked when I couldn't find the materia, thinking that the real world just wouldn't have any laying around when I logically thought about it. I stopped panicking and really looked thinking it out rationally.

The house was nice, nicer than any house in the slums had a right to be. Made of some kind of wood like material and stone. Somehow breaking the lifeless, dusty, metal ridden expanse that I've seen. Seeming to have flowers grow everywhere conceivable. It was unbelievable. On top of the roof, in the middle of the dirt path, by the small waterfall that resulted from a hole in the plate above. There were small fields behind the house that had edible plants growing in it, and flowers. Everywhere. Flowers.

There was literally a field of flowers miraculously growing in the slums, and the materia could simply be hidden in there. And when I waded through the bushes to check in the back, near the small pool of water, I was rewarded with a lightly glowing purple orb, or the 'cover' materia.

I clutched my find like a...like a thief in the middle of the night, which I definitely wasn't. Just because it was on their property didn't mean it was theirs. I paused, looked around to make sure nobody was watching me and scurried back to the clinic trying to look inconspicuous and taking my customary bed, only feeling slightly guilty. If I hadn't of found it then Cloud would've...or would he? That was something interesting to think about. As I can't really see him frolicking through a field of flowers to stumble upon this, and it was fairly deep in the flowers with almost no chance to be casually spotted. On that note I fell asleep, safely back with my prize tucked underneath the pillow.

The next morning I woke up eager to start the day. I did my customary morning stretches, katas, and exercises the routine helping me organize my thoughts. The freedom of movement as exhilarating as always. The old man, whose name is jimmy but I will never call him that because it's ridiculous, had breakfast ready. Somehow getting up before me which was a feat unto itself with how much he drinks. Breakfast consisted of roasted whole eater legs, again. Originally I didn't understand what it was, and was confused on why they would give me giant crab legs for a seeming invalid. When I found out I was a little shocked that monster parts were regarded as a staple source to the diet. I was too enraptured by the taste to care though. The chitinous legs had almost the same taste as crab legs, if just much tougher and harder to chew.

Done with my stretches, exercise, and breakfast with nothing else to do in the clinic I set off. I found a secluded spot near a clearing, no doubt the 'gang' would come looking for me and I didn't want anybody to stumble upon me practicing with materia. Jakayo would probably take me leaving without them as a game of hide and seek. Also being hidden from potential thieves was something you had to think about with materia. While the place may be peaceful materia is expensive. Almost the price of a decent armor or weapon. Sitting at 1000 Gil at the minimum, I still can't piece together why it's different than in the game. Money is confusing here in Midgar, with prices fluctuating constantly. A meal may be 50 Gil one day, but 75 the next week. The only staple prices are things geared towards combat because that is one of the only things there is no lack of.

Midgar is in a militant state, maybe even possibly at war with the land itself if the reactors can be considered a weapon, killing the land around it. With the constant threat from monsters there is never any reason to stop providing money to the weapons or research department to crank out weapons of war. It's not like the citizens of Midgar are living in poverty. By citizens I mean legally recognized ones. Slum dwellers have access to basic functions of the city, bare minimum to be kept alive, and that's when it's working. Those living on the plate are the true citizens, and while it may seem unfair from down below each and every one of them contributes to Shinra. The master craftsmen, soldiers, civil engineers, and lawmen all live up top. Deemed important enough to be allowed access passes to the plate and it's utilities.

I wonder if I could change that. Surely if there was an expanse program or something similar. The president was ambitious about Neo Midgar but surely if they just focused on making Midgar better a lot of the events of the game could be avoided. No chance of that happening though since most of the chairmen are crazy and don't care about the people at all.

Musing over it for a minute I focus back on my agenda. Learning about Shinra is always fascinating and picking apart facts from propaganda is amusing, but I've got a goal. I once again look around the small clearing to make sure I am alone. I clutch the materia in my hand and concentrate on my mako flow and push it into the orb. I feel the mako take hold but it doesn't stop like it did with the 'pie' it almost seamlessly flows into it, alters, and comes rushing back. It seems to come screaming back from the materia and courses throughout my system.

My arm instantly grows numb and I panic. Flailing my arm around and screaming at the top of my lungs. The sensation is not quite numb, but close to it. The feeling is creeping up my arm, past my shoulders and my neck goes rigid. My screaming goes monotone. I can feel my Adam's apple struggle to move, to change pitch, anything, and then harden. I struggle against it and then my breath hitches, my chest struggling to rise, and glancing down it looks strangely taught against my bones gaining a weird sheen. I topple to the ground, my eyelid struggling to close, and everything locking up. Time seems to flow in folds. Slowing and rushing with each beat of the heart.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. At this point I'm hyperventilating as my chest won't rise and my throat is locked up making me unable to swallow. My mind bringing up memories of me being trapped in the vat, unable to move. The sudden loss of control has me raging against the flowing tides of time and I fight back for control snapping out of my haze. Sensation returns along the edges of my body. I keep pushing and feel my muscles twitch, but it feels wrong like flexing your entire muscle and then someone sliding it along your bone. My nostrils flare and with the deep breath things are starting to become less numb, the feeling of bees bouncing around inside of me replaces it instead.

Then I feel something scrabble at my hand and try to peel my fingers off. Eventually, with much tugging the orb in my hand comes loose and the feeling slowly, so slowly, fades away. I bolt upright. Probably looking crazed with bloodshot eyes, but damn do they hurt. When I finally wet them I notice Jakayo, Tessa, and Jonni all looking at me worried. They are all talking at once but the sounds are muddled and my head still hasn't cleared. I don't know how long I was on the ground for. What happened there?

I panicked to put it simply. I would of been fine if I had somehow managed to cut off the flow of mako, but me panicking caused a rush of it losing control. Dangerous. I could be dead over what I thought was supposed to be a passive materia giving me a health buff and maybe compunctions to help people. I was almost dead wrong. I was prepared for something different, but not the intensity of what just happened.

"I'm fine." I simply lie to them, as it was the fastest way to get away and think about what happened, and how to go about fixing it. "Just got a bit scared trying out my new materia." Using the tactic of getting Jakayo's interest on something else is ridiculously easy. It almost never fails as the boy is crazy over anything combat related.

I can tell by their eyes that Jakayo and Jonni instantly wanted to know about it, wanting to try it out, and wanting to know where I got it, while Tessa seemed unsure. I pull out the innocent purple orb and this time slowly channel a faint amount of mako into it. My first mistake was treating it like the 'pie' and trying to cram mako in to override the defenses when it had none. My fist takes on a neat shine and stops there. I smile at the degree of success, it was difficult to control but that's what I strive to perfect.

"It's a cover materia that I found, I just had to try it out and it really freaked me out." I put it as simply as I could. They simply accepted it, though Tessa looked indignant about me being reckless. I really was lucky that they found me though. It could've been somebody else, but I was right about them trying to find me thankfully. I was surprised that the siblings never saw a cover materia before with their dad being the materia store owner and all. He doesn't order materia that wouldn't be helpful for the area though.

What happened next was me giving the kids a try, each making exclamations when they felt the effects. None of them having much of any difficulty not helping my jealousy. I was actually pretty surprised when they didn't freak out when it happened, but cover is a popular materia in Midgar slums. As it can make one bulletproof if they are expecting to get in a shootout. It leaves nasty bruises apparently. They heard about it from the stories of mercenaries getting their ass saved by a teammate using cover and stopping attacks at the last minute. They never described the feeling that accompanied it though.

It was truly interesting how it worked. The mako would convert into something...similar and apply itself to the epidermis layer with unerring precision, and then sink to the lower systems after a coat is applied. Almost as if it had a mind of it's own or set instructions. It resulted in a slight dull sheen over the skin making it almost as hard as steel, which didn't amount to much when low level monsters can punch through it, albeit with much difficulty. In the wilds it wouldn't be as much help, which I now understood why it is so popular in Midgar and not sold elsewhere in the game. The monsters were stronger, much stronger out in the plains surrounding midgar. Apparently it used to be worse until the reactors were built and forced out the bigger ones that needed more ambient mako to survive such as dragons or leviathans. Now it is just aggressive but weaker monsters and a constant patrol was needed around the city. Apparently safety was a good payoff for absolutely killing all chance of truly dangerous life around the city.

Abruptly the lights above us dimmed considerably, signaling the lights out warning. What. I've been out all day? More importantly I had lost almost 13 hours to this. It didn't seem like it but then again mako does strange things. From the game mako made perception of time flow strangely, something I was supremely uncomfortable with. I would work on it but I would avoid more episodes.

I felt cheated that my day of testing the materia was gone, but hopefully I could venture off to learn to fight soon. I had no idea how long I had until things got started. I needed to be prepared and I couldn't do that just sitting around. Everything seems to be fast paced though, if my freakish learning curve is any indication. I said goodnight to the gang, thanked them again for finding me, and headed out. Tessa looked like she wanted to argue more so I was glad to leave. Plans forming in my head as the lights shut off overhead. Walking through the dark was unsettling, but at least I was amused walking in on a panicked looking doctor when I returned. I explained the situation to him, but when he asked where I found the materia I told him near the gate. It was obvious I was lying but I don't think he really cared. So much as I didn't steal it and caused problems he really wouldn't.

I needed to get stronger, and fast. Today has only proved that i'm still not ready, that there is more to learn. If I have to get reckless to quickly get stronger, then I would be catching up soon.


	5. Chapter 4- Esoteric Entity

Step forward into opponent's guard. Plant dagger into side. Block overhead chop. Shift elbow to hit face. Opponent stunned. Slide dagger out of side...rough. Take small hop back. Use advantage of screaming and clutching side to quickly end the fight. Step forward and plunge dagger in eye. Cast look around. Nothing looks ready to fight. Safe enough.

My opponents were two hobgoblins wandering near the entrance of sector 6 presumably in search of targets. One lying dead with its throat slit, courtesy of me sneaking up on it, the other with an eye gouged and a gash in the side. Finishing them both in under 30 seconds is now a personal record. The screaming could be forgiven. It's best to finish fights quickly, more so than quietly in the slums. I rifle through the scraps of cloth that they call clothes, and then stash the speed potion I find in the knapsack that I carry. Speed potion is popular among the local tribe and can usually be found on them thankfully, it's not something casually sold in the camp at the item store.

I've been venturing further and further out from sector 5 into sector 6 recently. I learned much in the month i've been carving my way through them. It now marks my three months of being in this world, though It's felt like much longer with all the excitement. Somehow after my materia incident I got several pointers from mercenaries and made my way outside the camp, picking fights with lone monsters and then working out my tactics and attacks. It was rough at first, but I feel like I have managed to get to a decent level. The teeth-grinding intense focus from speed potions helped also. It does wonders for my insane learning curve, simple movements and attacks with my knives just seem to click and flow together. I probably would of had to save up enough money to buy a different, safer weapon if not for the ease I picked it up.

As I walk away from the scene three whole eaters scuttle out of the rubble from unseen cubbies and quickly work on the bodies, chewing rancorously. I leave the scene behind me, there will be nothing left shortly as is almost always the case. The sight was too common to be surprising. The eaters will come out of their 'hibernation mode' as i've dubbed it, which is the level of stillness and metabolic efficiency that only an insect can have, only when food is nearby. Sure they can eat anything but they have preferences as with most omnivores. It sets you on edge knowing that at every scenario of spilt blood you could be swarmed. Speed over stealth case and point, speedy stealth works also, not many things can survive a well placed blade in the slums.

Used to the nature of the slums by now, I warily approach the looming sector 6 gates. One thing I haven't gotten over is the sheer size of each sector. The game downsizes it, while going to point A to B with one scene change would be ideal, it just doesn't happen. Midgar houses around 80,000 people, each sector plate acting as a small town, and then there are the less populated slums underneath them. Each plate isn't the same, there is specialization and industrialization all catered to Shinra's whim. Same with the slums, sector 6 is nothing like sector 5, there are no outer camps to cull the monster population, no semblance of order, and no sense of safety. Nobody lives on the outskirts as it's too dangerous, most opt to live in the heavily defended Wall Street under the protection of Don Corneo. They choose to live under one of the most vile men in Midgar because the area outside of his domain is neglected and extorted. Random kidnappings happen and go unsolved, most likely because he is involved. He rules his domain with an iron fist, involved in every single illegal activity, which there is plenty of. I wonder if drug trade and weapon dealing would count as most places have them already, or even if they are illegal.

I step through the thick concrete overhang that acts as an entrance to sector 6 outskirts. It's really just a hole punched through into the other sector from an attack that happened years ago. Nobody bothers to patch it up as it is so much more convenient than having to go through Shinra security gates. I'd hate to see what could punch through feet of thick steel. Just stepping through raises the tension in the air as this is a common ambush spot. This sector has a reputation that demands respect, if it isn't given then your chances of survival plummet. I stop and listen, scanning my surroundings. I hear a scowl that would sound fit coming from a puma and the shrieking death throes of a whole eater, which absolutely infest this area. Whatever that was, it wouldn't be hungry for some time. Hopefully.

With nothing else amis I head off into the sector, following my previous steps from my last trip. The usual sound of scuttling, brief clashes, and hissing commonplace. I move slowly as it's not uncommon to see swarms of dozens of whole eaters file from small holes dug out, forcing me to quickly hide and lose time. Having to jump into houses to avoid being spotted is risky, as you never know what might inhabit it. But I choose my battles wisely, not looking to get into something I couldn't handle. Being swarmed was a very real possibility. Much easier to pick off smaller groups and make your way past.

Originally, I had to cut my way through small mako pools filled with hedgehog pies, several whole eater nests, and one particularly nasty incident of me running from a house shooting dark heated gas at me from its door with ridiculous accuracy. The gas smelled flammable, but I didn't want to test it. Coming back the next day very cautiously the house was gone leaving nothing but drag marks on the ground. Not freaky at all. All the effort just to have a safer path deeper and deeper into sector 6 was starting to show progress. Not enough mercenaries consistently go into the area to clear an area thoroughly. Most of the larger mercenary groups go outside the city to hunt much more profitable monsters than the pests that are inhabited here.

I knew from the game that the sentient house was dubbed 'hell house' which is a demon possessed house. An actual demon. I forgot that those were real here. It warps the house that is filled with scrap into a mechanical monstrosity when disturbed and is the single biggest threat in the sector. Other monsters flee from it, as it seems to mindlessly kill anything in typical demon fashion. Mechanical arms lashing out and pulling prey into the house, or the paste if it decides to play with its food. It isn't killed as conventional wounds don't hurt it. It either has to be systematically dismantled or disrupted by mako. Something about mako weakening its presence in the world so magic works well against it, even if it doesn't damage the house much.

Just like my cue from the game to avoid the house on sight, I found the cue that I was on the right track to my goal by a giant mechanoid hand that fell from the plate above. I wonder what is going on up there, probably nothing good as the arm it's connected to is the size of a crane. Keep in mind that there is no sun to keep track of, and compasses can't be relied on with mako interference, so travel by landmarks is needed. I had one map, but quickly found out it wasn't accurate as it hasn't been properly charted since the attack on midgar, and the destruction not been properly catalogued made it even more unusable. I may of been cheated out of the gil I got from selling parts, but it does help in a vague general sense. Traveling in a line or taking the high ground to quickly cover distance leads to getting tracked or spotted quickly, and promptly swarmed. A lone target is too tempting to the large groups roaming the area. It almost seems like an anthill (leech-hill?) with how many whole eaters there are.

Finding the hand set me on a path of looking for the key places depicted in game, all hopefully leading to the playground. More specifically the materia that I know is housed there. Somewhere. I think that the same situation of the cover materia applies to the 'sense' that is most likely hidden somewhere around the area, as it isn't there at the start, but shows up later after an explosion shifts the rubble around. If not, it has been valuable learning how to fight and survive, and collecting gil from selling choice parts doesn't hurt either. Grenades and potions aren't cheap selling legs that are considered jerky and such.

I have been going into sector 6 constantly now for almost a month, after getting used to the sector 5 threat level, much to the chagrin of the 'gang'. They attempt to get me to stay and not lose me like they did Rilo, but their efforts are in vain. While it would be fun to play and relax, I have to prepare for the future. These are some of the weakest enemies in the game, and if I struggled with them then I wouldn't survive in this world. My materia is lacking, and I only have several speed bottles and potions with some grenades mixed in for shits and giggles. Sure solidifying the skin is helpful, but it doesn't do much offensively. While I can use it to augment my strikes it leaves me open to counterattack with the numb feeling and awkward movements. I am working on familiarizing myself with it, and managed to shake it down to several seconds, but running on numb feet isn't easy.

I needed to get my hands on more materia and drugs to see the transition from game to life as they are my best bet, more so than any weapon. My knives have served me well as the countless nicks in them attest to. But once I figure out the aspects and uses of materia I can use it to further augment my style. Already I have received compliments from mercenaries about handling myself in combat, many asking me what my plans for the future are and if I would join their group. I told them I'd be leaving the slums soon, as soon as I prepare. I would set myself up as a mercenary and try to connect with anti-Shinra groups to get recruited for the fabled first mission in sector 7. It was my best bet, and wouldn't raise suspicion with the others when I joined the group.

I crawl inside an inclined pipe that litter the area and haul myself onto a higher elevated road that's partially collapsed, almost as if an earthquake hit. Up ahead I spot the iconic neko-playground along with five hedgehog pies placidly hopping around. While not favorable, I've handled worse with my reckless behavior. When you come from a world where it takes weeks just to heal from a small cut, and not minutes, the pace is a little unsettling. Mako and potions make wounds heal ridiculously fast. A bone can be set and properly healed in a day, but it's deeply unsettling and painful. Mako really is bullshit.

I take off at a sprint towards them, downing a speed potion and my thoughts focus on the combat ahead. I haven't hit the detrimental effects of them yet, but over-consumption leads to splitting headaches that signifies other complications aside from the loss of appetite. My heartbeat increasing as the combat drug courses through me with each pulse, not bringing excitement, but order and forethought. Mid stride, I enhance my legs with mako, my strides now eating even more ground. I'm not spotted. Pies have notoriously bad eyesight. It's a wonder they haven't been hunted out of this sector honestly.

Focus. Organize. Attack

Asses the situation. One pie standing by entrance. Three sitting on top of cat. One now unseen. Slow stride to reduce sound and pace towards entrance pie. Downward thrust into head. Peel off with foot. Make note to get combat boots after. Four left. Step into territory. Ignore synchronous turning. Don't think how there was no tell of presence. Two hop off cat and charge. One croaks in sign of casting atop cat. Unseen comes from around corner close by and charges. Prioritize.

Throw dagger to interrupt caster. Quick lunging thrust to center mass kills previously unseen pie. Thrown dagger doesn't injure, completes purpose. Shake pie off dagger and face charging duo. Take step back. Bull rush. Punt. One stunned. Foot now injured. Pivot when body slam is launched from partner. Turn towards pie now on back. Downward thrust in coup de grace. Caster now charging towards me with previously stunned right behind.

Throw dagger at one. Hit dead center. It goes down. Activate cover in arms. It doesn't disappoint and lunges at me. Awkward swipe with numbing arms has last 'pie' pinned. Repeatedly override mako and scorch with own spell. Low panicked croaking has no effect as 'catch the pie' has numbed me to it. Quick glance shows nothing else amiss.

I step back. Taking calming breaths. The drug still working its way through my system but the pounding behind my ears dulls and heartbeat slows. I focus my mako towards my injured foot but it's slow to respond, must be getting low on, then deactivating cover. I limp over and collect my weapons while looking for my loot. Eventually, after a lot of searching, finding it tucked in a small pile of scraps. It was aggravating to find it, but my persistence of overturning everything and knowing it might be in the general area means I lucked out.

In my hand sits a yellow, clay looking orb. I'm excited to finally upgrade my arsenal, even if it is only 'sense'. In the game it's used to discern an enemies weakness, level, health, and magic. I sorely wanted to see how that translates to real life, as I doubt there will be numbers ascribed to it. Materia is so interesting, I felt like a caveman discovering fire. I would of bought any attack materia with my meager saving by now but Jakayo's father "lost" his shipment to "monster attacks" as the Dons henchman explained. They were taken, probably by the Don. He didn't seem apologetic at all, smirking the entire time. I wanted to attack his smug face right then and there, but didn't want to cause trouble for the camp. Even still I barely would of had enough gil to buy one because materia is ridiculously expensive. I could buy 10 grenades for the price of one low grade materia. While monster parts are a steady source of income, the quality of them around the slums nets a pittance. Sure it's enough to live on, but forget about being able to expand and grow.

I slowly channel mako into my find, learning from my experience last time. I felt the mako rush into it almost eagerly, change, and come snaking back in the space of several beats. The mako comes rushing back directly...into..my...head.

"Woah" I can't help but let out words to ground me. I cut the connection, the shift in perception was unnatural and reminded me of the cover materia. It was disorienting more than disturbing though. No panic of feeling trapped. I felt the effects quickly bleed away when I cut off the mako flow. Good, I would of hated myself if I let my curiosity irreparably change my mindset. I take a moment to readjust and try again, pushing slightly more mako into it. Instantly the world around me turns...sharper, is the best way to describe it. Things stood out that were in front of me, but it took much effort to switch it, and anything round and shadowed seem to make my eyes slide over them. I startle and realize I had been staring at a spot for too long, that it was way too fascinating trying to dismantle what was so special about that spot. Hyperfocus? I see now why most gun wielders used this, and why it wasn't popular among swordsmen.

You couldn't capitalize on openings made by team members. There was none of the forethought or reaction boost from speed potions either, so I couldn't use it as a substitute sadly. It probably wasn't popular because of the feeling of being watched that accompanied it when it wasn't focused. Paranoia might be a side effect of it. Happy with my find I turn to head back, only to see the entrance blocked by an innocent looking house that definitely wasn't there before. Seems it wasn't a side effect after all.

"Shit"

At that moment two things happened. Every window from the house burst out and metal limbs and spikes shot out of them and several from the sides of the house digging into the ground and slightly lifting the house, with a shadowed face appearing from the doorway. Then, abruptly something shifted inside of me and I panicked. The panic making my mako flare up inside of my body. Like a chemical reaction fueled by magic the mako circulating inside of me increased exponentially. I started bleeding out mako and reabsorbing it back at an absurd rate, the cover and sense materia activating simultaneously. Time seemed to go into strange folding sequences and by the time I got used to the change I realized I was reacting to the threat in front of me. Debris from the explosion seemed to hang suspended in the air, I would blink, and then time would flow a little faster or slower. I was halfway to the hell house when it reacted, taking a downward swing at me with a hand jutting from its chimney. It's arm moving as if sinking in water as I shot past it. There was a dull sounding thud behind me as I took a massive mako enhanced jump, my legs screaming in protest and creaking, the mako almost feeling like fire against my skin. Mako was still bleeding off of me as I slammed into the side of the house, rocking it back. I wasn't done though.

Dimly I was aware that mako was causing my aggression, as it did with monsters. Aggravating my body, and in turn my mind. I couldn't do anything about it though, not with the threat before me and my body in fight or flight mode. I somehow lost both weapons in my mad dash, but brought my hands against the side of it to squeeze the tipping house. Some scream answered from inside the house and I saw the dark face that couldn't be described fade into shadows. That set the house to falling over and as metal screeched and then my hands got hot, snapping me out of my haze along with chunks of the house. I jumped back and I heard the house fall over, sounding muted as it fell to the ground, scrap pieces loosely scattering.

What? Did I just do a limit break? I was fully expecting to have to use up most of my supplies to fight my way past it and run away the first chance I got. Not to panic just at the sight of it, panicking gets you killed. I was better than that. Where was my limit break with all my other countless fights? I wasn't even hit, in the game limit breaks build up by taking hits, so how did this happen? What even was that absurd amount of mako? No matter how hard I tried there needs to be a conduit to get the mako outside your body. More importantly I just tackled a house. What kind of limit break technique is that? That's not a technique. Shaken at my lost control I set about to numbly look for my discarded weapons and head back shellshocked over my lost control, only keeping half awareness on my surroundings. I made good time, I was heading back earlier than usual as I felt drained and I had my goal secured in my knapsack. Only having to scare off the trio of whole eaters from the two hobgoblins I killed thanks to the often cleared path. Almost nothing was left and they were lapping up blood with thin tongues, hissing at me as I got close. It couldn't of been more than an hour in the slums, my progress sped up by the path I cleared, but it felt so, so much longer.

* * *

Getting back to the camp put the worries off my mind as I was presented with something interesting. Interesting was good. It kept my mind away from the haunting premise that I was not as in charge of my body as I thought I was. I need an explanation about limit breaks soon, and not just my guesses at what they were to put my mind to rest. It would also help my sanity, hopefully I hadn't been injected with Jenova cells. Now THAT was a scary thought for me. Scarier than anything I had experienced in sector 6.

"Vice! Vice! Guess what we got!" I was instantly swamped by the blue haired siblings at the entrance of camp. They must of been waiting for me like they usually do. Jakayo had his hand clutched behind his back and a smile plastered on his face, eager at the prospect of playing a game. Truthfully I didn't feel like dealing with them, the ordeal in the slums wearing me out. I didn't have a massive well of energy to draw from like he somehow did. It was noteworthy how Jonni wasn't there though, the happy goggle wearing kid almost always tagging along with them.

"Dad gave us something to protect ourselves." Tessa interjects, helping me in Jakayo's game. It was fairly obvious what it was though. Tessa had a handgun she had holstered and Jakayo toted a long sword strapped to his belt that was close to dragging on the ground, so it could only be materia or amor, I don't think armor would fit in his hand, and their dad does own the only materia shop. Maybe it could be a grenade, that would be an interesting gift. That would actually be a pretty funny gift. 'Son I love you so much I got you this to protect yourself in only one fight. Now let's have a father son bonding experience of playing catch with it.' I put my worries behind me and decided to play along instead of just heading back to sleep.

"What materia did you get?" I felt guilty at feeling glee watching Jakayo's face fall when his game was cut down so quickly. Energy slowly returning to me with the smile that crept onto my face. He presented a green orb, natural materia and not a shitty manufactured ones. I whistled, impressed, or tried to as I found out that I actually haven't learned how to whistle in this body. I frowned, slightly displeased and grabbed the materia he presented, ignoring his giggling at my raspberries. I stuck my tongue out at him and focused on the materia in my hand. There was no way to tell what type it was just from looking at it. As soon as I channeled a bit of mako into it, it just sort of clicked on what it was. No way to describe it besides magic, completely unlike the manufactured ones where I couldn't tell until the effects were set in. Even then I would have to guess.

I focused some more mako into it and fixed my gaze on the ground, as I would with the 'pie' fire. I let out a tiny burst and frost started spreading on the ground connected by a tiny nearly imperceptible line of mako. The feeling of mako surging through me wearing me out and draining my already low reserves. I really did need sleep and to eat. It would do wonders for my mood also.

"COOL! Teach me how!" "How did you do that?" I was hit by both of them talking at the same time. I was surprised they didn't even know how to use their own materia, and my display wasn't that impressive. It wasn't even close to a max charge which could freeze someone's arm off completely. Well a regular person with no mako, which I haven't been able to find so far in the world. Materia has a limit to how much can be channeled into it and converted before diminishing return rears it's head. Ice 1 was strong enough to freeze chunks off of weak monsters, or if a body's defense is good enough freeze a layer of skin in a stinging cold and slow muscle movement. That is unless it gets completely shrugged off or the monster has an affinity with ice.

Most of the creatures in the entire city couldn't survive a powered blast, especially whole eaters. It was smart of their dad to give them this, as they seemed to pretty much infest all nooks and crannies and are difficult to root out as they lay their damn eggs everywhere. But they seemed particularly vulnerable to rapidly changing cold temperatures. I once saw a mercenary cast ice 2 on a swarm, and while the initial icicles tore through them, the freezing temperature caused them to mentally freeze up.

When I asked why they wanted me to teach them, they seemed to have planned out an answer. The brats are probably catching on to my demand to think things through and have things thought out. I was actually impressed.

"Dad says you probably know how to use it better than anybody," He did now? What would make him think that. Before I could even ask he continued. "He says you are a natural fighter, maybe even good enough for SOLDIER." Well that's interesting. It's strange how the public still respects SOLDIER and not Shinra. But if they think a compliment will make me dedicate my time to teaching them they are wrong. I really didn't know how to fight that long ago, I just used liberal amounts of drugs that I looted and found in the abandoned sector to help with that. I don't think their dad would appreciate that method.

I had finally carved my way through sector 6, I was going to sector 7 soon, the gate to it right by the playground I just cleared. Sector 7 is where everything truly began in the plot. I couldn't miss the first mission of blowing up one of the reactors that is so crucial and starts the game off. They must of been able to tell what my decision is from my face because they didn't give me a chance to deny them.

"Please you have to! Dad is always busy running the shop and he says he doesn't trust in himself to teach us and that it's dangerous, but he trusts YOU! There isn't anyone else that will teach us." Jakayo was working himself up, and clearly frustrated. Almost to tears. But I was going to shut him down, I don't need this. Every kid in the slums wants to learn how to fight and go to SOLDIER, he wasn't special. I was tired and wanted to sleep. There had to of been somebody else. Oh wait there was.

"What about Rilo?" I instantly point out the flaw in his argument, as I knew he had plenty of experience fighting monsters and would help them. He didn't seem like the type to let the kids down.

"He's never around, and anyways he's never been good at it, takes too long to cast spells. It's always been his brother that was better at it. He wouldn't do it anyways." Jakayo chimes in matter-of-factly, shutting off that path of the argument. He really did think things through. I was already changing the world for the better one hyperactive child at a time.

He has a brother though? That was interesting, I don't think I ever saw him around the slums. It was now that I realized how little I knew about these people. I've been so focused on getting to the ones that I knew were important to the plot, that I completely missed out on the ones around me. I couldn't tell you the names of any of the store clerks, and they were all on friendly terms with me, even their father. How standoffish I must of been. I've been so focused that as soon as I was out of the clinic I wasn't reliant on anybody. While it's made my progress go incredibly fast I was feeling a bit guilty about focusing on myself.

Maybe it was time to give back to this world that had given me life again. Starting with helping out these two kids who were kind enough to befriend me and include me in their games and talk. They did introduce me to everything around camp, and allowed me to integrate a lot easier. I don't know how much less friendly people would be to me if I didn't know anybody but the drunk clinic operator. Man, I really am feeling guilty now.

"I didn't know that Rilo had a brother." In fact Rilo had made no effort to talk about his family at all, he rarely interacted with anybody. I was under the assumption that he was an orphan, or it was a sensitive subject. He was a lot like me thinking about it. Always focusing on his objective and how to get there. If I was a more competitive person he could of been my rival. Maybe he saw me as his rival with how much he glared at me and worked on fighting. He didn't go on any solo runs until he found out that I did.

"You are wearing his clothes." Tessa states coldy. Oh, that's heavy. Real heavy. Definitely sensitive subject then. No wonder he avoided me, sending me glares and focusing on other things when I was around. That was egotistical to think that he was competitive with me. Me, who is still wearing his dead brother's clothes, reminding him everytime I'm around about what was lost. The kid in the clinic who died and clothes I was given. He did have black hair I remembered that, but so does most of the camp. He probably hated me since I never bothered to change or pay for different clothes. My lack of self-awareness working against me here.

"Where is Rilo anyways?" I decide to move the subject on from the conversation that is making me feel awkward and shitty. They are trying to guilt trip me into helping them out, and it's working. I used to see Rilo sparingly in the slums, hunting monsters or tagging along with a group. Usually nodding in respect to me when we met, but it has been awhile since I saw him thinking back. Hopefully nothing happening to him.

"You really don't know?" Tessa asked sounding incensed. I don't know what brought the sudden tone of anger into her voice. This seemed to almost go beyond trying to guilt me, into something serious.

"What happened." A dark feeling made it's way into my stomach. If he had died while hunting monsters when I could've tagged along with him making it much safer. But then..

"He joined Don Corneo's gang." I was interrupted from my spiraling thoughts that were turning to the negative by Tessa. She stated it like it was the worst thing in the world. It was strange though, I am in a world where I know the future and there are things that still surprise me. It was very humbling to find something that I didn't know or expect that blindsided me.

"Ever since Milo, his brother since I know you don't know, died he wanted to make the slums safe. If he joined Shinra then he would of been deployed somewhere else. Joining the Dons gang allows him to stay close, and it pays well too." Tessa supplied, shaking off a lot of the anger from earlier with a huff. She actually looked pretty cute when angry with her boyish and blue hair. She kept it short just like her father and Jakayo but she wore it well.

Oh. I got distracted and might be leering a bit. That does actually makes sense. If Rilo had joined Shinra he would of been deployed elsewhere in defense of their assets, and as I found out the monsters around here are worth almost nothing so he would need money for real equipment. He gets the added benefit of traveling from Wall Market to our sector whenever he comes to visit, clearing out a safer pathway for others much like I did. Having to face nests of unexpected enemies always causes complications when traveling. He might even join a mercenary group around here when he saves up though, i'm sure that there is a group here willing to support him as he is known by everyone, so him being employed by the Don makes less sense.

"So i'm the only one that can teach you? Can you not use the materia at all?" The matter of Rilo aside, It seemed highly unlikely that they couldn't find anybody else to teach them, or that using materia can be that hard. I didn't struggle with it at all, and there are many mercenaries that have cure or other types of materia. Sure it's a bit rare in the slums but i'm sure you can find a teacher somewhere. They might have to scrounge up some gil but it shouldn't be hard.

Jakayo seems to take that as a challenge because he snatches the orb back out of my hands. He scrunches up his face in intense concentration while holding his breath- and then 15 seconds later a thin stream stretches out slowly from the orb into the air in front of him causing snow to form and promptly melt forming a small pool. Much too long. He is probably having difficulty pushing the mako through the conduit. They say 5 to 7 seconds to charge and fire off a spell is the agreed upon amount of time to be able to use it in battle. At the very least 3 for professionals hunting higher level monsters. That's not even getting into the points of firing off partially charged spells that fire quickly, but are more prone to failure just like his attempt.

I still wasn't sold on the idea of helping them though. Even if I realized what problems they were struggling with I was considered a novice myself. If they learned to use magic they would just go looking for fights sooner. It is what I did after all. Sure the area around the camp is relatively safe, further out in the maze of abandoned houses and rubble monsters still gather, and if someone went looking for them they would find them. Maybe even get into a fight they can't handle if they don't plan it right. I remember Rilo's shook expression after his first solo run into the slums.

"Dad said he would pay you when his shipment comes in the next couple days. In materia. Any type you want." Jakayo hits me with a critical strike out of nowhere, my own greed. It does double damage against my decision, bypasses my opinions, and directly attacks my resolve. My mind warring against my plans to go to sector 7 and debating the points of putting it off. Tessa just looks smug, as if she knows the answer. Stupid cute smug smile. Somehow the residents figured out my obsession with materia. Hopefully not about my plans to systematically test any drugs I come across though. They probably gained insight from all the pointed questions i've asked about materia from the mercenaries. Most kids ask about fights or cool weapons they saw, the weapons store kid is the only exception in the camp as he is crazy about trains, and i've only asked about materia. The kid might of hit his head or something because he loved to pretend that he was on one freaking out everybody. That was weird even to me, and I come from a world with easily accessed unfiltered internet. I'm not even sure if they have it here.

But suddenly making sure these kids know how to survive in this world is taking precedence. I pretend to think it over for a second, no point in being too transparent. Truly though their father must want them to learn how to use them, especially if they were to take over his work. I would have to confirm if he would actually pay, or if this was just Jakayo trying to con me into it. If he sent them to me with no promises then he knows I would be most likely to reject with my schedule of throwing myself in the sector 6 slums.

What really made me decide that nothing could truly come to harm if I spent several days teaching them was that I hit a sort of bottleneck with the monsters around the slums. I've been hard pressed to of truly been challenged in a fight by a group of monsters. Not suicidal fights of going up against a hell house alone or swarms of whole eaters as at that point I would just waste potions. Maybe it was me just used to fighting these types of enemies, but that would change if I had a bigger arsenal behind me. I had enough for maybe a materia and some supplies, but I sorely needed armor. If I got the materia for just teaching the siblings then I would save plenty of money for my journey. I hummed as if deep in thought, then nodded.

"Sure, when do I start." Jakayo seemed baffled he didn't have to argue further and Tessa had a pleased look on her face. They turned away from me, huddling during their discussion. This will be fine, a few days couldn't hurt. I have been asking the mercenaries about any new hotshots that showed up, and while there have been amazing stories of promising new mercenaries, none of the descriptions match Cloud, the protagonist, so I should be fine.

"How does tomorrow sound?" Tessa questions. Tomorrow? I guess the sooner it's over with the better. There really is no merit in me putting it off and making notes for them isn't possible as I can't read or write the language. There hasn't been any problems with that yet, thought I wanted to find a library or books soon and have someone read them too me. Maybe my crazy learning pace would help. We agree to meet early in the morning, same clearing of the cover materia incident. As soon as I agree they both take off sprinting deeper into camp, likely to tell their dad. I may of stared at Tessa's retreating form a little longer than necessary. I was doing my level best to ignore puberty and the growth spurts i've been having. It was strange seeing them work together though, as usually Tessa tries to reel in her hyperactive brother. Teamwork plays such an integral part of everything. People must work together to carve out a space to live in this hostile world, as Rilo said the ones who work alone usually don't make it. It's dangerous what I've been doing, but i'm going to be facing worse. Much worse.

How else would I stay in control of my life?


	6. Chapter 5- Disputed Dilemma

"What the hell is this." I manage to growl out through grit, clenched teeth. Pressure building around my ears. I didn't need to deal with this so early in the morning. This is not how I wanted to start my day. Preferably it would be an orderly routine with no surprises.

Arranged in the clearing is about a dozen kids, practically every kid in the camp. They were varying in ages, younger kids clutching onto siblings and older kids looking anxious, but all of them looking excited. When I came to the clearing I was about to run away screaming about children of the corn as every kid was armed to the teeth. It scared the hell out of me. I was honestly just expecting two kids, maybe Jonni, and now the three were doing their best to look like they had no idea what I meant. I leveled my gaze on Tessa, as so far she has always jumped at the chance to explain what her brother was thinking. She squirmed a bit under my glare but it was Jakayo who spoke up.

"You said you would teach us, and it'd only be fair if we all learned from you. All their parents agreed to it also. We want to learn how to fight." Looking around I saw most of the kids nodding, and some that looked distinctly guilty, averting their eyes when I passed over them. They were probably just happy to get away from work and chores.

What I thought would just be a relaxing, laid back job turned into a budding nightmare. Ask any schoolteacher what their thoughts are of children with magic. Let alone children with swords and guns. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and let out a huff, not looking forward to the prospect of teaching so many other kids. Best to get it over with quickly.

"Fine." I manage to uneasily say. I wasn't used to crowds, and crowds of children are significantly and statistically worse. Kids are the most judgemental people you will ever meet. Sure it might be innocent judgement, but that means I am the center of attention, which is something I have trouble getting used to.

I turn to the assembled crowd, who are congregating near our small group eavesdropping. This wasn't something I was expecting to do living in a new world. Most would think that they would set off fighting monsters and shirking responsibilities upon arrival, but the world doesn't work like that. I loudly addressed the kids calling them over, all looking excited at not being kicked out. I wasn't naive enough to think that even supporting myself would get me away from all responsibility, when there is money involved there is always give and takes to the exchange..

"Who here has ever used materia before?" Only 2 kids raised their hand, who were of course Jakayo and Tessa, and they didn't even seem confident. I pulled out the two that I own and held them up for the crowd to see. Instantly one of the kids held up his hand so I nodded at him since my hands were occupied.

"Why are they different colors?" Perfect question to introduce them to basic theory. That was actually just what I needed.

"This-" I said, holding up the yellow 'sense.' "is a command materia. It allows the user greater control over certain parts of their body. Depending on the materia" Vague but simple. It's what I was told by mercenaries at the least. Requiring focus to use and keep active.

"Next-" This time I held up and jiggled the purple 'cover.' "is the independent materia. It automatically activates when you fight. These have many different types manufactured by Shinra, each doing something different." Only half true, as most people unconsciously circulate mako throughout the body when fighting. Cover activates when mako congregates over an area you are expecting to get hit. Somehow the materia can trace it to the point, or you can focus it's effect to different areas which takes a lot of upkeep. I gestured to the blue haired siblings and they handed over their green 'ice' which I then held up.

"Magic materia as everyone should know." It allows humans classic magic that drains the mind with the effort it takes to tell conventional laws to fuck off. But I can't say that. "It allows you to do magic." There was a smattering of laughs at that, everyone knew what green materia did. It's all anyone wanted was a strong one. "Like-" I poured a burst of mako into it and focused about 30 yards up, about the max range of regular materia, and ice shards formed on the point expanding outwards. "This." The shards shattered and small snowflakes came floating down. Several kids looked amazed but the majority just looked eager.

Over the course of the next several hours I had each kid try the 3 materia we had with varying degrees of success. The theme was the older kids struggle with cover, often putting in too much mako, locking up their arms, but not to the extent that I had. While the younger kids struggled with sense, getting headaches and freaked out by the change in perception. Everyone struggled with ice. Some degree of magic was formed but not consistently. I didn't understand why they struggled with it until I realized they can't feel the mako flow well. I guess coming from another world and having to get used to my body made me acutely aware of it. Something positive came from that at least.

It was just extra work to guide them, interjecting when they were putting too much or too little into the materia, and all kids eventually managed to make ice form. I shut down any attempts to cast full powered ice by overriding their flow and stopping the spell. Too many kids wanted to try out the strongest attack, not even thinking about the others and shrapnel that could fly from the attack. I was actually pleased with myself, there were no accidents or complications, and everyone seemed happy. I even felt generous and agreed to repeat the process tomorrow. Several kids still haven't fully grasped each materia so I stayed later and helped them with it. Several parents came by to see what was happening, but seeing that I had everything under control left shortly.

When I came back to the clinic around midday I was greeted by the old man grinning. The only time he grins like that is when he gets a new bottle of liquor. Nothing good could come from this. Absolutely nothing. I was still holding my grudge against him and we rarely interacted, me going about chores and eating quietly.

"You did good today kid." Oh no. I forgot, in small camps news travels fast. I glared at him and started preparing for a trip into sector 6, packing potions, grenades, and speed potions into the knapsack that I carried, tugging on the new combat boots I picked up from the item shop. I was interrupted from someone clearing their throat that I didn't realize was inside.

"Um, excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be Vice would you?" I sharply looked up at the unseen person. Somehow I wasn't able to tell that they were in here with me. I was met with emerald green eyes highlighted by light brown bangs. Her hair is tied up with a pink ribbon and she wore a light pink dress. She was on the short side, I had almost a good foot on her. It took a second for me to process what exactly I was seeing, and internally groaned. Standing there and brushing off her dress and looking nervous stood someone that I wasn't expecting to see. Aerith Gainsborough, the one person in the entire camp i've been avoiding decided to visit me at the clinic. I really didn't need this.

At seeing my face instantly crestfallen she suddenly looked even more nervous, wringing her hands and fidgeting more. The old man laughed and walked outside, giving us space. Once again I made the assumption that I wouldn't have anything to do with it until the plot started. That's really coming back to bite me in the ass.

"What do you want?" I might of sounded accusatory, because she had trouble meeting my eyes.

"Ummm, well I was planning to go to sector 8 with the carriage that comes through here and the nice person driving it offered to help me get there to sell my flowers. Then some kids came by and told me they were learning to fight from Jakayo's bodyguard." She paused as I rolled my eyes. "And I was wondering if I could join, that is if it wouldn't be trouble. Mom is always telling me to either learn how to fight or find someone to fight for me-" She blushed for a second and stammered out. "L-like a bodyguard."

Before I could tell her to just go about her life as if I didn't exist, but not worded as harsh as that, the damn old man cackled out from just beyond the doorway. "Of course he will! There's no way he could say no to a pretty lady like you, I taught him better than that. He already agreed to be there tomorrow so just show up anyway, he's prickly about getting things his way, but he's a pushover." Teach me? The only thing he taught me was what I learned from watching him. That mainly consisted of how much he can drink. I guess he did let me crash in one of his beds since i've been here, but it's not like the clinic is always packed when there are potions. People mainly go here for alcohol to make sure no infection sets in and making sure their bones are set correctly.

Thankfully I wasn't the only one reacting to his statement though. Aerith looked mortified, red faced and shaking her head as if to get a thought out of her head. I just schooled my features, not letting him have the satisfaction of seeing me worked up. I think we were both surprised when I agreed, managing to force out an affirmative.

"Fine."

I don't like people leading me around. But I was willing to make this an exception, it would make having to deal with her on the journey difficult if I was just the guy who rejected teaching her anything. And also what the man said rankled me, bringing my thoughts back to the reasoning on helping the kids, aside from the materia. It really would help if she knew how to correctly use materia, but i'm feeling she will be a natural with her unique heritage.

"I'm Vice by the way." I said sticking out my hand which she just looked at oddly. I managed to save it by giving a small bow which she repeated. I still haven't fully gotten used to the blend of American and Japanese culture. It really was some bastardized mixture, or at least in the slums. Wait was that a way to say poor, rude people acted like Americans?

"Aerith. It's nice to meet you finally." She gave another bow, then promptly scurried out. It really was a strange conversation, but then again I guess she lives up to her personality in-game as being a strange one. She was also known for premonition and literally 'speaking to the planet,' which i'm not sure how it will translate over, but not something I can casually ask. She could literally talk to the planet, or much more likely have greater understanding of what is going on around her by feeling the mako flow out of her body. Something humans can't do without pressing up against something with flow, but may be possible for the Cetra.

"Like what you see, neh? That girl has livened the place up so much it's a wonder she hasn't found a boyfriend since that SOLDIER left her." I just went back to focusing on preparing to clear out my path to sector 7. Not even making a remark about her being single would have me rising to the bait. The conversation replaying in my mind. It really was an awkward conversation.

It's strange from going somewhere where quiet is a necessity to having children running around everywhere. I can understand why a lot of mercenaries spend time away from everything, it's jarring going from fighting in near silence, having to put the enemy down before it can spite you and cry out, to the loud market of the camp and conversations happening around you. When you are tuned to pick out little sounds and discrepancies it sets you on edge.

Fully geared I head to the camp entrance, ready to vent my worries and frustration out in a productive manner.

* * *

The next day was particularly difficult to get out of bed. The hobgoblins were smarter than I gave them credit for and sent a 'small' ambush party of a dozen on my usual path. But I was aware this wasn't a game for a long time now, if I had expected them to fight fair I would of been dead a long time ago. So I didn't fight fair back with a good amount of explosions. There were no max amount of enemies you can fight, no turns, but there were similarities. Whole eaters usually came in packs below six, any more and infighting becomes a problem. Hobgoblins usually scouted in pairs. Hedgehog pies can only be supported by the amount of mako they can find and settled into the small puddles scattered around the slums, only leaving in search of scraps.

But no, what truly made it hard to get up was dealing with Aerith. I wasn't sure how interacting with her would affect everything, but figured it couldn't be for the worse. I didn't like not being sure and having no guesses or assumptions to fall back on. So I convinced myself, as I was rising to the smell of cooking meat, that I would endure the teachings and then follow through my original plan of figuring out how I got here. I thought back on my opportunity to ask Tseng, it could be considered a lost opportunity but I was caught unaware and did not want to be brought back in for testing.

Anything that tried to take away complete control like that again better expect that I would fight it down till my fingers are nubs, till my bones are grinding against the pavement. FIght it down to the last drop of blood. The dark thoughts soured my mood but I set about getting up.

My day started as usual, stretches and exercise, and stepping out I saw the trio walking in the distance towards the clinic. I waved and then we set off towards the clearing together. They were excited to play with materia again and somehow found out about Aerith joining. They were amiable about them but I tuned out their chatter. This time I arrived before everyone else did and watched as the others trickel in, even Aerith, clutching her combat staff and greeting everyone with a smile and flower. I still don't understand why others insist on carrying weapons when it's the materia you channel mako through. Then again most of the weapons did have small slots to insert materia, but I wouldn't let anybody use them as they made feeling what they were doing dangerous and awkward.

Aerith seemed to draw people towards her, earning herself a little crowd, all making exclamations about seeing her here. HA serves her right for being social. I only have to deal with three brats. Still, listening to the comments were actually pretty funny. Kids saying she was going to be the toughest flower girl Midgar had ever seen, how they would find a flower materia for her and such. She handled it gracefully responding to each person and laughing at the right times to set others laughing in turn.

I started off the same way I did last time, calling on random kids to make sure they remembered the extremely easy explanations. Most of them zoned out so I blitzed through the theory and right into the practice of it. As I thought, Aerith really was a natural when it came to using materia impressing all the kids. It was strange seeing everybody so willing to help her. I had never dealt with that since I was here, having to practically annoy the answers out of people. It was only when I started showing results that they became interested and gave answers more out of seeing what I would do with it. My first day out of the camp literally nobody stopped me and made sure I knew it was dangerous or even if I was prepared. I was a little jealous of the ease she attracted people.

I just finished for the day when Aerith's head shot up and I heard her mutter "Something's wrong." under her breath. That's when all of my plans crumbled before me. It was another moment of perfect clarity that I had my first time panicking in the vat. An explosion rocked the entire city. I saw the walls around the camp rattling and loose pieces were falling off. The smell of sulfur and large quantities of mako being expelled were carried on the explosion of the blast tingling my skin. This couldn't be happening. There was no warning that now was the time. I had missed the first mission. I had missed the first mission.

I took off at a sprint. Tossing Jakayo his materia on my way passing him, ignoring his squawking. I needed to get to sector 7 and see if I could salvage the situation somehow.

When I made it to the clinic there was nothing but pandemonium. The large man with a scar across his face and chain around his neck was standing just outside the clinic, I was surprised to see him again, I thought he had died or something. He was shouting orders at people and trying to bring order, there were so many people running around with swords it was actually pretty dangerous in case somebody turned too fast.

I tried to run by, as whatever they were talking about didn't pertain to me. But before I could make it fully through the door the man giving orders seemed to blur across the ground, footsteps kicking up dirt with each enhanced step, and grabbed me by the arm.

"You are Vice?" He looked towards the old man who nodded. Sellout. "I've got a job for you."

"No." I answered instantly, and just as fast I realized he wouldn't take that as an answer. The tightening around his eyes and mouth were the only signs of his displeasure. I was suddenly a lot more unsure.

"You-" he said jabbing me in the chest with a finger and a lot of force. "are the one who motivated my son so much. For that I thank you. Because of that I will be nice and tell you again. I have a job for you." I gulped, suddenly feeling small, and nodded. This man in front of me was all of a sudden a lot more terrifying. "I want you to go to Wall Market and check on Rilo, and then see if you can find out more of what the hell is going on. The T.V said it was an attack before going off the air. We need to see if it's something we need to worry about." At my poleaxed look he further explained. "Attack on city or Shinra, go find out in sector 6. If anybody here would know then I would. GO! Kids these days showing no respect to their elders" Him and the old man shared a knowing look. I smiled realizing I wouldn't have to ostracize myself just to do what I wanted, then bolted inside to prepare. At least his plans coincided with mine.

* * *

Staring at the gate to sector 6 filled me with trepidation. It was a fucking madhouse. Where before it was eerily quiet, now gunfire, laserfire, loud bellows, the ridiculous puma scowl, and chittering of the whole eaters seemed to fill the air. The bomb had kicked and pissed all over the anthill, forcing Shinra security to send in forces or allow monsters to make it to the plate. In the distance I saw a hell house launch itself over the ridgeline a solid 50 ft into the air, with laserfire trailing it swatting a helicopter out of the sky with a metal hand. It landed with an explosive boom, and then another inhuman bellow followed. Madness.

Stealth wouldn't help me much here. The clock had caught up to me whether I was ready or not. I could make better time taking the high ground, which I promptly scrabbled to awkwardly on shifting piles of junk and loose rubble. At the top I downed a speed potion, and activated sense and cover at the same time. It was very tricky, but maintaining cover over my vitals and to be able to sense enemies was just too helpful. I didn't want to be blindsided and instagibbed. I took off at a dead sprint, aiming to maintain the pace the entire way. The ground beneath where I was shifted to reveal a whole eater worming its way out from underneath my previous position.

Nothing can keep up with me though. WIth mako enhanced leaps and strides I tear through the sector with my usual pathway in sight so I don't get lost. I duck low, occasionally trying to break line of sight. It works somehow, too much excitement to keep focus on one target for so long. It really is a madhouse, monsters attacking each other and destroying anything that fall into their sight. Thankfully they are so enraged they don't usually think to look up.

There are no Shinra soldiers here or humans as that would be suicide, only what Shinra calls the guards. They are robotic forces in all senses. Actual robots. There are blue humanoids that move slowly, but have two hoses as their arms that shoot out streams of mako mixed with something, acting almost as napalm and devastating swathes of whole eaters. They are heavy set, so much so they have to waddle, and they use their weight with no remorse slamming anything that gets too close. Accompanying them are cyborg attack dogs acting as support, using whiplike tasers to zap off monsters when the robot guards are swarmed and dogpile, and darting in and biting with servo jaws.

It almost seemed like an army of robots versus an army of monsters. Though calling the monsters an army was a bit much, no cohesion, just rage. The bomb and sudden surge of ambient mako really pissing them off. I idly wondered if this is why the game doesn't have random encounters around every corner, then wrote it off. Now wasn't the time to worry about anything pertaining to the game.

My mad dash is unimpeded by the robots, but when I come across a group of them they asses my threat with scanners but then a new one appears taking their immediate attention. I was wary I would have to fight them as you do in the game but it appears not. I make good time, several stray bullets hit me from a strafing run of a helicopter that came out of nowhere, and catching the attention of a hell house and chased, no serious injuries to speak of. What is normally hours of travel has turned into almost half an hour with my tiring speed. Cover does it's job of making me bulletproof in vital areas. The house having trouble moving up the piles of junk, it's great mass causing the entire structure to shift underneath it and denying it purchase.

I come to the playground where a barricade of sorts is erected. I'm stopped and accosted by men with guns and swords, but eventually let through when I don't seem too desperate to go past. My gaze lingers on the gates to sector 7 but they are firmly shut. Instead I head off to the side. I wander through a valley of junk that was shunted to make a path to wall street that also acts as a kill zone, as I can see several corpses laying around and snipers lining the ridge, the bodies most likely from the initial confusion. Eventually I come upon Wall Market. What I am seeing is a far cry from the camp that I had gotten so used to. There are lights strewn up everywhere, and the smell of food is tantalizing. It instantly sets me on edge with the sheer amount of people here, especially after the chaos I just witnessed. So many people seem carefree it's at the point of being ridiculous. Some people don't even have weapons.

It was like being back in regular civilization. Sure most of the buildings were made of scrap metal, and thugs lined the streets, but there was some semblance of normalcy, nobody was panicking and screaming or primed to fight. I noticed several key buildings as I walked past that were depicted in game and plenty of them that weren't. The staple item, weapon, materia stores. The diner, bar, clothing store, and bodybuilders club that were an integral part to cloud crossdressing and gaining entrance to Corneo's mansion. If I so chose I could have explored this place to find any discrepancies, but I had something to do. I jumped when I felt something latch onto me and almost lashed back out, so close to impaling the foreign limb, until I calmed and reminded myself where I was and turned around. Attacking civilians is the fastest way to getting kicked out, even if it was an accident.

"Hey baby you looking for a good time? I can rock your world even more than what just went down baby." A scantily clad black girl was tugging at my arm, her grey dress clinging onto her, and now that she had my attention she was perking up and it was doing interesting things to her body. I tore my gaze away from her chest and gave her my most level stare, trying to convey disinterest. I don't think I convinced her, or myself. Instead I shifted topics. Fucking hormones.

"Do you know where I can find the Dons hangout? It will be worth your interest." I say while holding up several gil. The tried and true saying money talks. Hopefully the money talks loudly enough and will distract her from her proposition. She eyes it for a second then pockets it and points down the central path winding through the market. It was built like a strip mall, all businesses lining the street with several roads branching out. I didn't want to set off in a direction and get lost, or worse mugged because I turned down the wrong alley.

"Straight down the middle baby, it's gonna be at the very end. Huge place, you can't miss it, I almost feel bad for taking your money." I set off, until she once again grabs onto my arm, aggravating me even further. "I like a man who is important and dangerous," She says huskily. "If you ever feel like having a good time just look for me around the Honey Bee Inn. Ask for Cassie." She then finally lets go of my arm, her hand trailing down it as I set off. I do my best to put her from my mind and continue on, now wary of others who might be too grabby. It could've been so much worse as it usually is with me. I needed to be as paranoid as I was with cars in my past life, I couldn't remember why but I had an intense distrust of them. It was needed to get around and I used them, so I couldn't see why it was that bad. Shaking my head and dismissing the unpleasant thoughts I took off.

* * *

She wasn't kidding when she said it was a huge place. It was only two stories but was wider than anything I've seen on the strip so far. Nice wood and furnished in a Japanese style I couldn't place. Actual wood was ludicrously expensive, and this house was pretty much made up of it. There were lines of carts waiting to get to the front entrance which I easily step around much to the annoyance of the owners. It might of been a visitation line, but I can't read anything and didn't feel like waiting. The gate guards must of sensed that something was up because as soon as they see me the pair tells me to stop, putting grips on their compact automatic guns. I'm not stupid enough to demand entrance so I state what I really need. To see Rilo. At the drop of his name they usher me inside and make me fill out a visitation form. I wasn't expecting it to be this easy, no cross dressing involved or needed.

Inside the mansion, because that's all it could be, was an assembled crowd of about thirty people in the main hall. I did my level best to remain inconspicuous but was surprised when Rilo came over to me. It seems that I wouldn't have to find him. He glared when he saw what I was wearing. He was dressed in Corneo's lackey uniform so I glared back. It was green pants, brown combat boots, blue button up shirt, and brown vest. It looked ridiculous on him, but it was offset by the dangerous looking gun that he carried affixed with a long and pointy bayonet. It almost looked more like a spear. Looking down at myself I realized that I had yet to buy any new clothes, which I really needed to do. Still the same sack vest and highwater jeans. Wait, they weren't this tight before.

Before I could tell him anything, someone stood at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor and addressed the crowd. Scotch, if I remembered correctly. The man Don Conero had let lead his forces and de facto boss of all the lackeys. The only difference between him and Rilo was purple dyed hair, a green vest, and ridiculous reflective aviators. The man oozed confidence and was the stereotypical gangster. Vestis virum reddit.

"Alright everyone quiet down. SHUT THE HELL UP KOTCH." He addresses a black man with a yellow mohawk and red puffer vest. The said man just scowls back at him, not phased being reprimanded in front of everybody. "We are not at code red anymore, Wall Market is not under threat from monsters." There was a loud cheer from everyone and he held up his hands placatingly. "Now that we are back in control two things are going to happen, first we are going to find the fuckers who did this." Another cheer. "And then we are going to find the Don a wife." Everyone perks up at that. Probably questioning what would make a crime boss want to get married. Or the fact that it came out of nowhere and was random as hell. "Because of the shit that went down, the Don realized that life is too short to live alone, as many people in sector 1 found out today. Our goal is to find him the hottest, baddest, bitch out there." There was another cheer and a bit more said, but most of it just riling them up. I was impatient and just wanted him to be done. Eventually he ordered all leaders into his room for planning. Of course a city wide crisis and the Don is worried about getting a girl. I had sincerely hoped that incompetence of leaders didn't translate over from the game but it looks like I just might be dealing with idiots. Nobody like someone painfully stupid.

"What do you want Vice." Rilo almost spits out from beside me after the speech, no doubt unhappy to see me here. Speaking of painfully stupid. Fine I would play his game. I didn't choose to come into the world with nothing. I didn't get to decide what happened to me when I first came here, and I'm sure I hate that more than you apparently hate me. It was just unlucky that your brother died the same time that I got there, don't be an asshole about it and attribute it as my fault. I turn fully towards him and put as much spite into my voice.

"Your dad sent me to check on you. Things are pretty crazy out there and he was worried." Looking back it should've been fairly obvious, they both had similar features and he did say I motivated his son. Though why he sent me of all people was beyond my understanding. The only thing that I could come up with is that I was used to running through the slums alone, but that couldn't of prepared me for the shitshow I walked into. Maybe one person could make better time than a team, or, most likely he couldn't spare a team.

"So what? I'm fine, just go back to the camp. Things are fine here you heard him. I've got something good going on for me here, I don't need you to ruin this." For some reason he started to get agitated at the mention of his father. I felt like I was missing something and I didn't like that. I was already aggravated and on edge, getting yelled at for doing what I was sent here for was not something I was going to deal with. Anger started to flare up inside of me, it seeming to tickle at my skin, and with how stressed I was, I wanted to vent.

"Don't be an asshole, everyone is worried about you. You are never around now and you seem to be hanging with a bunch of fuckwits. Don't tell me YOU became one too. I wasn't the reason that your brother died. Get over yourself, people are worried about you so don't be an ass, ass." I put it as bluntly as I can. Maybe I was a bit angry at him practically telling me to fuck off when I went through a goddamn war zone just to check on him. No matter what culture, it's rude as fuck to do that. So I'd be rude as fuck back.

"The fuck do you mean a fuckwit." A menacing voice says from behind me. Shit, this is what I get for dealing with Rilo on his grounds and not mine. Rilo instantly looks like he would rather be anywhere but here. I turn to see Kotch, the black man from before, that has a look on his face that promises pain and most of the group staring upon hearing our raised voices. I hadn't realized we garnered so much attention. He takes a step towards me cracking his knuckles and before I even think about it I lash out at him. My hand numbing mid swing when I reflectively activate cover. I am not very elegant at prolonged conversations.

What I really did not think was going to happen was my hand punching straight through his neck, spraying blood throughout the room, soaking the crowd. Everything was silent besides the man slowly choking on his own blood. The silence was damning. The silence was answered with a hail of gunfire directed at me a beat later. My reply was activating cover over my entire body and enduring, gaining nasty fucking bruises all over as I was peppered with bullets. Rilo wasn't so lucky standing next to me, but he limped behind the desk in the center of the room still alive.

What the fuck did I just do. I just fucked myself over that's what, the timeline was dashed with one angrily thrown punch. Now I was facing down ten people, with even more in the other room, all heavily armed. At least not everyone here was a combatant. I would deal with this the way I learned how to in the world. There was no talking my way out of this. Now that they emptied their clips, I emptied another speed potion. This was going to suck.

Focus. Calm. Attack.

I deactivate cover in my legs and arms, but in turn enhance them with mako. They are still staring at me unsure of what to do, I take an empowered leap towards the nearest one drawing my knives in the same motion. I take a stab at his face, his hands reflexively coming up, and gutted him with the unseen knife. Nine to go. Now two people are on the floor bleeding everywhere and there is a thin layer of blood starting to spread. There will be more shortly. I look up and see that three are charging with bayonets fixated on me and the rest are reloading, one is fumbling his clip. I activate sense and I can discern the paths that they will take, and their footing towards it. Strange use for it in combat. One should slip on the blood. I reach down and grab the dying mans gun and wrench it out of his hands. The one projected to trip actually stops their charge to get behind cover as if there are bullets in my pilfered weapon. Pity

I draw the gun back above my shoulder and heft it like a javelin, empowering the triceps, wrists, fingers, and chest to maximize throw potential. It's not weighted like one, but i'm close enough to where it doesn't matter in the least. It lands dead center of one charging and lifts him clear off his feet, actually sinking several inches past the blade into him. Eight left. I don't hold the mako enhancements for long, as it's too tiring and quickly drains me and the tingling is pretty distracting. I was tired enough already. I pull a grenade out of my knapsack just as four of them finishing reloading. I pull the pin and roll it at the ones just starting to fire who scatter at the sight of it. The lead one charging is almost on top of me and I barely sidestep the thrust, earning myself a cut on the side, and plunge one dagger into his heart between his ribcage and the other into his eye. Seven left. Glancing up I see that the grenade did more than just distract them. Five left.

Hearing a cry from Rilo I turn to see if he is in trouble, only to see him attacking the two guards coming in from the entrance. He discarded the gun like an idiot and drew his old sword, and seemed to be fighting his way out. Without me. But the seven in front of me (two dying on the ground trying to unscrew potions without fingers) were not going to let me go easily. I activate cover and wince at the resumed onslaught of bullets, only to realize that they are using burst firing to wear me out and accurately hit the softer parts. I sprint towards the one hiding behind a pillar reloading his gun taking a bullet and reach around the pole, sense materia letting me accurately know how he was hunched over, slitting his throat and withdrawing the blade quickly and then using the pillar he was for cover. Four left.

This is the time where a limit break would be useful, but another grenade would have to do. But as soon as I throw the grenade it gets shot out of the air, the shockwave setting my ears to ringing. What? A quick glance and jerking my head back as gunfire whizzes by fills me with dread. Of course they would have sense materia also. That could be the only reason for the insane accuracy. I pop open a potion and down it, along with another speed potion. Things get a little fuzzy at the edges of my vision and a headache starts forming, but I can still fight. The speed potion has my toes numbing, but thankfully not my fingers.

Another glance shows that they have spread out and there is not much I can do. I can't charge them or I would get shot from a different gunman. So I take another lesson that I learned from this world and booked it. Activating cover on my legs, chest, arms, and head but not my hips, and somehow managed to jerkily pivot out. My back was going to be bruised to hell after taking several dozen shots, but now I was just glad to be in a bullet free zone. I step past the two guards who were cut down and pushed my way past a gathering crowd looking at a fleeing Rilo. It wasn't hard as I was blood splattered and filled with bullet holes. I had to stop and stare for a second, because I saw Cait Sith in the crowd, a robotic cat toy, then shook my head blaming it on too many drugs in too short of a time and took back off.

I made it into the alley where the wire falls down after the plate falls and stopped to catch my breath. Fuck, everything hurt and the ground was starting to look comfortable. I really needed to-

"You thought you could escape fro-" Before he could finish the sentence a dagger sprouted from his eye. He dropped like a cord was cut. I hadn't even realized that he was here, sense was still activated, but I just wasn't processing it. Thankfully the speed potion was enhancing my reflexes and reacted as soon as I heard his voice, which was still too slow for my liking. Expecting more, but finding myself suddenly alone I looked at the body and an idea formed.

I couldn't let this fight go unfinished. I needed to go back for more. I stood up and drank another potion, throwing up blood a second later and buzzing starting to set behind my ears. That's not a good sign. At this moment I wish I had a restore materia or maybe even a rocket launcher. If not just for the principle of it I have to go back. Because of this I didn't know what was going to happen, and I actually had someone to blame it on other than myself.


	7. Chapter 6- Myriad Mania

Shifting uncomfortably in my new clothes I slowly walk back towards the mansion trying to contain my nervousness. I had extracted the dead body of all its belongings, as seemed to be my theme, and was now the owner of a slightly used Corneo's lackey uniform, a compact assault gun, and some loose gil. It was a bit unsettling wearing the clothes of someone I had just killed, but if it kept me anonymous so I could go through with this crazy scheme I wouldn't let it get to me. The combat boots and loose pants were surprisingly utilitarian, aesthetically pleasing, and had plenty of pockets. Everywhere hurt currently but I managed to portray confidence and nodded to the one very nervous looking guard keeping back a small crowd curious as to what happened. It seemed like they were running low on manpower for some reason, namely my through the doorway into the mansion had me back in the fight just like that and felt a grin crawl onto my face. Sure, I was out of potions and was a bit worse for wear, but I could feel my sore body starting to heal. I had to constantly fight back the urge to throw up, so many chemicals in my system was in no way good for me, but I was feeling much better than I did before.

"Mother fucker! FUCK FUCK FUCK!" Scotch is overlooking the movement of the bodies. Kicking one of the cadavers in his rage and causing it to shift, something inside it cracking. He then starts pacing and muttering to himself. Blood is layered thick on the floor and bullet holes decorate the walls in tight clusters. The grin left my face taking it all in, had the fight truly been this bad? It didn't seem like it at the time. I wasn't sure how I was going to go about taking them all out, or even if I could, but I stood around for a good bit acting like I was keeping an eye on things while thinking about the situation.

There were eight people in the lobby and they all looked unsure about being in the same room as their raging boss. I was suddenly uneasy about my decision to come back. Eight was suicidal to go up against in my current state, I could barely stand. I'm most likely running off of spite and chemicals at this point. I really should've prepared or planned and then make an attack as I'm pretty sure I was still leaking blood somewhere on my body. I blamed the mako aggression for my rash and stupid decision and I felt irritation and repulsion crawl over me for not noticing when I was being influenced. I was in the middle of the enemy HQ and I was out of potions and had few grenades left. I wasn't even sure how many men the Don had employed or just around the corner. What was I thinking? Maybe if I could group them up and then introduce them to explosives I could take them all out in one action, but getting them together would draw attention and scrutiny towards me. A half baked plan like that made sweat leak down my pilfered clothes just thinking about the things that could go wrong. Luckily nobody noticed my unease or was wondering what I was doing as I looked to be standing guard as the lackeys cleaned up the mess the fight made. I was now feeling if I bent over and fell it would take too much willpower to be able to get back up. I really don't understand why I didn't find a nice safe hole to crawl into and get some sweet, sweet sleep. I was debating the merits of just leaving and sneaking out when I heard scotch address everyone darkly in a quiet tone.

"Everyone do you fucking understand we are going to fucking find him and tear him to pieces. We are going to fucking destroy him. I want everyone out looking for him. Every store, alley, and shithole looked into. I want his head. Now get the fuck out of here, I need to speak with the Don." He turned and strode up the stairs scowling. Paused, then turned around. "Now! Get moving!" Several lackeys jumped in the air and gave sloppy salutes, most didn't have the grace and just stumbled out in the dash out. Everyone just seemed glad to get away from Scotch. For one brief moment I was empathetic towards them, they'd just lost friends and their boss was lashing out. I crushed that feeling. I was too tired to waste energy caring about something I was the cause of. I'd fix that soon enough.

I was thankful for the dismissal, even if it was to send everyone out to find me. I can now see why one of the super villain rules is to have henchmen that don't wear masks. I awkwardly shift the ski goggles fixed on my head, I guess these weren't masks. I wasn't going to complain though, I was the first one out the door and broke through the thinning crowd and into the bustle of Wall Market. I'm surprised that they didn't make the connection in between me and Rilo, but thinking back the only people I told were the two guards who he cut down, guess he was good for something and did help me out. I wasn't too worried about him, if he could handle himself in sector 6 he should be fine against a couple of thugs that weren't even looking for him. Hopefully he wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed.

Walking through the crowds was peaceful and different than before, the uniform making people decide to give me a wide berth. Or it might be the gun with a massive bayonet that I'm toting around. I didn't have to worry about pickpockets or people trying to sell me things as most just outright avoided me because of the fear associated with the Don. It gave me time to think and plan things out. How could I salvage this situation? Was Corneo's mansion really an integral part of the story? The only true plot that happened prior was that one of the lackeys were captured by Tifa and Barret in sector 7 after the next bombing mission and told about the Dons connection to Shinra. Tifa then went to go meet him to extract his plan under the guise of "marriage". I glanced down at my uniform, and I guess I could fill that roll and give the information away. The second bombing mission was set for tomorrow in the sector 5 reactor which gave me plenty of time to rest for a bit, finish things here, and head to sector 7. I hated how disorderly things got and how most of it was my fault, but I truly was not used to combat situations and the intense changes in environment had me on edge. Usually I was calm and collected and I would never lash out like I did but things played out poorly. I wasn't arrogant enough to think that there would be no changes to the plot, but my main goal of finding out how I got here still stands and knowing the timeline would help. My fist tightened on my gun. They would pay.

My stomach rumbled, but I didn't think that I could hold down food when a thought occurred to me. It was time to see how similar things were to the game. I went to the diner and ordered the special and managed to somehow choke it down, and when hearing my opinion on his food the owner gave me a coupon upon hearing that it was tasty. I'm not sure if he believed me seeing my green face, or if he just didn't want to question the person with a gun. Some things from the game remain the same thankfully and he had a coupon I could exchange at the pharmacy. Apparently he does this to promote his business to any first time visitors. I paid then carried the coupon down the street to the pharmacy and exchanged it for a digestive. I took it immediately under the odd looks from the owner, all in the hopes of making my stomach feel better while also stocking up on potions. No phoenix down, tent, or hi-potion as they were all too expensive for my meager savings and I was dubious of their use in combat having not used them before. I sold the gun from the corpse of the thug as I was planning on hitting up the weapon store next. Surprisingly the owner took it. I was suspicious of stores not taking things pertaining to them but apparently it depends on the owner unlike in the game where everyone bought anything and everything. I might of been cheated but finding that out was worth the gil. Every gil mattered currently. I was now the proud owner of hyper and tranquilizer at the very least. I also had a less exciting antidote just in case, but I don't think I would run into anything that could cause poison anytime soon, but it was better to be prepared. It took some doing but eventually the bottles and vials didn't make as much noise in my knapsack with some adjustments. There was virtually no clinking from them hitting each other thankfully, it would be rather hard to sneak with that. The order and digestive were making me feel much better now.

With my items now safely secured in my knapsack I set off for the weapon store. The store was depicted just like it was in the game, a cage separated the workshop from paying customers. Swords, guns, spears and other instruments of combat hung up on the walls and laid out on racks. Several people were hard at work hammering out metal slags. Also a tank was taking up over half of the small store being worked on. No garage door, did they manage to build that in here? It was a massive thing that ran on materia that is converted in the engine, the owners causal explanation would have to do...for now. How they go away with having a tank in a city or got it working I was itching to know. How did they build it in here though? I can't imagine the city letting someone build a tank at all. Then again a tank wouldn't pose much of a threat to Shinra when they employ massive war machines and beast that could go toe to toe with Godzilla. I browsed the weapons, but as I thought, there wasn't really anything I knew how to use. There were thin metal plated gloves that I could have for defense, but everyone seemed to use pauldrons and large armbands as the armor of choice. I reluctantly bought a titan bangle and a specific inspired order earning a threat to call the authorities until I started piling gil on the counter in a poorly executed bribe, depleting my gil collection to next to nothing. The store owner made sure nobody else was watching then piled everything under the counter and pocketed it. When I put on the armband it was surprisingly bulky and fit just below my elbow. It was made of some extremely dense metal and had 2 separate slots for materia which I inserted cover and sense into. While I could activate them from within my knapsack or pockets I felt much safer with them surrounded by metal, and the click of them locking in place was satisfying, I wouldn't be losing them or getting them stolen anytime soon.

Before I decided to check in at the inn and lay down, I took the opportunity to scout the outside of the mansion. I was worried that they would all be out looking during the night, but it seems sometime after several hours of fruitless searches they decided to turn in. I had spotted a few lackeys during my preparation but none of them paid me any mind other than a glance. The men were not dedicated soldiers, they were thugs plain and simple. They were not used to being up against much resistance or doing long arduous tasks. They would rather drink and spend money earned in the honeybee inn. They turned in for the night quite possibly thinking that nobody would be dumb enough to attack them again, even when they were in a weakened state. It was appalling and insulting that I struggled in a fight with them, but then again not everybody has as much paranoia as I do.

With all my preparations taken care of I head towards the inn at the start of the strip. It was a shitty rundown place, but it was the place used in the game so I trusted it more than the others. It also helped that it was dirt cheap. The owner thought it was strange how I was staying in one of the cheapest rooms for 10 gil, he had it written all over his face, but he made no comment about it. Even though the Don's men had a place to sleep in his mansion, who was he to question it? I had at most two hours to rest before I aimed to get back to work, that is if the anticipation didn't keep me up. When my head cleared up during the walk I came to the conclusion that it would be absolute suicide to attack the mansion during the day, at least again, so I would finish this in the dead of night. It was technically lights out, the day of the first mission had ended, but the amount of lights in Wall Market made it hard to tell that the lights from the plate above were off. It seems I had spent quite a while preparing and getting used to the layout of the area in case things went wrong. A quick check of the time showed I would be getting very little rest but I had worked with less. Thankfully the calming walk and getting used to the atmosphere has given time for my body to heal and calm me down. Mako still tickled at the top layers of my skin aggravated but that could be from any number of the myriad of problems affecting me. I was going to cut off the head of the snake and make the Don much less of a threat in the city, but more importantly less of a threat for me. I don't know if killing the Don now would be a good idea, I couldn't see why it wouldn't be, but I knew for sure that Scotch was going to die tonight. He was out for my head and I didn't see him giving up. It would be like putting a mad dog down, I saw the look in his eyes. I saw how deranged he was, how even his own men were scared of him. I wouldn't have to look hard to find horrible things that he did. I was going to end this problem that I created quickly.

* * *

It's funny how life can lead you to unfavorable situations if you don't pay attention to the signs. There are some things you just can't avoid no matter how much you try. Those must be mitigated with information and preparation. When even your preparation and foresight goes wrong you can ask for help or fight through and whether the ensuing storm. Each person deals with situations differently. I found myself in one of those situations now.

I stare across the room at the man I now had to reassess. Things went wrong, but not in a way I could easily foresee. But this was salvageable and understandable. Scotch had one of my daggers a couple inches embedded in his chest above his heart and he was standing looking wild eyed, panting, and frantically searching for me. What I had thought would be a simple task of getting in, getting rid of Scotch, and getting out just got so much more complicated. My work on improving my dexterity does not make me an assassin. It was laughably easy to get in, just walking up and getting rid of the guard, no visitation forms to fill out this way. It took me a second to drag the body to a shadowed corner and I was in. There was nobody manned inside at the desk in the lobby and I explored the mansion to my heart's content. The torture room was locked, which should've been obvious in hindsight, but I took a hyper I found in the Don's room, which wasn't locked at all. He wasn't in his room so even if I thought I could get rid of him and get away I was out of luck. Probably did the sensible thing and got out of dodge. I pulled a disguised lever beside the bed and looked at the foot of it, and sure enough I saw a hulking figure sitting atop a pile of bones beneath the trapdoor that opened. Damn I'm glad that I didn't have to fight that. I couldn't see the shadowed form clearly but it looked positively massive and reeked. Almost to the point where I wondered if it had a DOT poison aura, then rejected the thought. So far most things in this much less polygon filled world were depicted in a similar fashion to the game. It pleases me making the connections and how to bend things to my favor. It almost distracted me from the thought that something had ripped me from my world and messed with who I am, the most heinous of crimes. Almost.

Eventually I found the barracks adjacent to the lackey room. It was just an open spaced room with futons sporadically placed on the ground. There were about two dozen of them with screens separating them. It was an open room and snoring could be heard coming from several sleeping forms. Most were empty either because of the earlier fight, they were out doing things, or looking for me. I decided to leave my package from the weapon store in the room as it was weighing me down, setting it down with a dull, muted thunk. I paused and made sure none of them stirred then continued on. Because of my time in sector 6 I easily snuck past and into a separate room into the place Scotch slept in. It was a spartan room with only a dresser, bed, T.V, and mirror. I was lucky that he was there, it seemed obvious that he would sleep close to his men but luck seemed to be on my side. Seeing my target I made the decision to walk up and stab a dagger into his heart. Should've been simple but at the last second I felt the mako inside of his body flare up and his muscles surged and tensed, my knife suddenly halted and he shot up wrenching it out of my hand. I stepped back and calmly watch him frantically look around. Eventually the man's eyes settled on me, staring directly into my eyes. It was unnerving, he bristled when his brain caught up with what he saw, I prepared for a fight.

"Everyone get the fuck up." He said it calmly and quietly, almost as a growl, to the point where I wasn't sure if the others would hear him, but then stirring in the room behind me was apparent. He was dead serious, intent on bringing all of the lackeys and crushing me with them. I was having none of that. He tenses as he heard the very distinct clink of a grenade pin being pulled and changes his stance ready to leap away at a moment's notice.

"If you think you are going to save yourself by threatening to blow this place up i'll just let you know one grenade isn't enough to scare me-" I tune him out and toss the grenade into the room behind me, the room filled with the now waking thugs. And my surprise.

"WATCH OUT!" I'll give him credit, he caught onto the situation fast and dove for his weapon while calling out to warn his allies. I let him take hold of it, instead opting to dive to the other side of the room and flip over a dresser in the same motion. A beat later I encompass cover over my body. I may not of been able to cut the head off the snake, but a snake is a whole lot less dangerous when it's body is blown up.

BBTTOOOOOMMM

A fucking massive explosion rips through the mansion, instantly filling the room with smoke and debris. My head is ringing and rattling. Everything is spinning, the entire wall to the other room is now missing, and even with my precaution there is a sliver of wood that somehow penetrated cover which I promptly ripped out. Standing and shaking off the rattling in my head and deactivating cover, I look around for signs of whatever is alive. I don't think that there is much that could survive a primed tank shell almost as long as my leg, but thicker, that has been cooked off. I needed to be sure and get out of here before something unexpected happens or authorities, if there are any in the slums, show up.

"Mother FUCKER that hurt." There, standing in the same spot as I last saw him, was Scotch with a torn shirt and pants exposing a red and raw chests filled with holes. He was groaning but managed to keep his footing. There is a sheen entirely encompassing his skin and I realized that he has cover materia also. The sheen slowly fades away and blood starts oozing from several small cuts and pouring out from the stab wound over his heart. Too many stories of snakes being dangerous after death for it to not be true. Even without a body the snake can still bite and is aware. I didn't know if Scotch was going to be here coming in, and blowing up everyone at once is too good of an idea to pass up. Things suddenly just got a lot more dangerous with my failed attempt.

"You," he spat out a mouthful of blood and raised his gun. "are so fucking dead."

Fuck.

I dove to the side and activated cover. The bullets slammed into my legs and sent me spinning on the floor, rattling my head even more. I managed to scramble back behind his dresser and activated sense, trying to focus on the gun. Just like with when I was charged I could sense a vague direction of where the bullets would go from the gun, though I wasn't fast enough to dodge bullets so it didn't help much.

"What is that shit, a mastered cover? It won't help when I put a bullet through your eye." I took the opportunity of him questioning me to pop open a speed potion and down it. Instantly I felt nauseous but managed to chug the whole thing down and keep it there. I needed to lay off of these for upcoming fights, move onto a different drug while I get the buildup out of my system. Too dangerous to try something new in combat.

"No it's not. And I'd like to see you try, you suck at shooting." I say back. I inwardly groan at my lame attempts of smack talk. I'm too used to fighting monsters where mid battle banter isn't an option, at least not a sane one. He either isn't fazed or didn't hear me. Maybe I'm lucky and his confidence is crushed and he lost his will to fight. Yeah right.

He pauses, as if processing what I just said then laughs. Its an unhinged laugh that sets a chill to run down my back. "Lets see you dodge this then fucker." I internally paled and not liking the sound of that I rolled out of cover and in a single smooth motion turned my roll into a sprint towards the giant hole in the wall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw he had an underbarrel attachment underneath his gun and was aiming it where I was but tracking me with his head. I must of surprised him because a moment later he fired and with a deep thunk a grenade was fired out of it at my old position. Joy.

With the resounding explosion I was launched through the hole and directly into the destruction of the other room. It set the bruises on my back to burning with agony. I should of activated cover but reacted too slow. Looking around the room it resembled nothing like what it was when I snuck past. It looked like...well a bomb went off in it. There were severed limbs and splatters of blood scattered throughout the room. Don't focus on decor, focus on enemy. I took a deep breath.

Focus. Resolve. Attack.

"Are you-"

Opponent steps into room. Pick up arm and throw. Crouch on all fours for lower center of gravity and smaller target. "dead yet?" Empower quadriceps, hamstrings, lower back, abdominal muscles. Ignore burn from mako circulation. Arm batted out of air. Blood now in opponent's eyes. Launch.

I slam into Scotch, him activating cover and nearly dislocating my shoulder. I didn't activate my limit break even with mimicked motions of before. He slides back on the blood, back into the other room. Opponent still on feet. Wipes blood from his face. Off-balance and looking at what hit him. Attack.

I set upon him, muscles burning, pulling out a second knife in a blur. He seems used to the moment of numb after using cover. No opening easily seen. I'll have to make one.

Slash forearms. Duck retaliatory bash. Cut femoral artery. Cut closes and gains sheen. Opponent utilizing unseen aspect of cover to stop blood loss. Opponent well versed in enhanced combat. Not well versed in fighting fast opponents. Mitigate enhanced punch from opponent with one forearm. Stab kneecap with free hand. Opponent's legs buckle but brings gun to bear. Drop to ground as bullets go overhead. Push off and slide on bloody floor to plant second dagger into opponent's gut. Roll out of way from stab down. Pull last pair of daggers out. One left after this. Opponent took time to take out hi-potion. Throw dagger to disrupt. Container shatters but some manages to get on wounds. Not as an effective process, acceptable outcome. Suddenly opponent enveloped in aura of mako pooling off of him and flowing back in at a rate faster than the eye can easily track.

God damn it.

Scotch is now screaming, from panic or fury I can't tell, the mako is giving off a faint light and shadows dance across his face. His hands blur and suddenly the gun is reloaded and aimed and sense is screaming at me to move. The mako surrounding him latches onto the gun Scotch is holding and he screams, primal fury is the only way to describe it. Something deep inside of me seems to scream in response, and I bring up the armband and activate cover pumping as much mako into it as I can. For a moment i'm snapped out of my drug focus as it feels like burning oil is poured down my arm with the surge of mako. His glowing eyes are giving off the signature of massive mako exposure and I know I couldn't dodge. The scream goes on for a second longer, almost seeming to draw out all the emotion he is feeling and then the bullets that fire out are so bright they hurt to look at. Stars dance across my eyes and then the bullets slam into my bangle with the force of a car, a constant stream digging into it heating the metal and pushing me back. I can feel the moment they punch through the metal sending shards and mako into my skin, and then when they burrow through my arm to the other side to then slam into my shiny chest and send me flying back through a wall. I crash through it, time slowly playing out and becoming distorted. The ground slowly inching towards my face.

Everything is the wrong side up for a minute when I land. There is a roaring that sounds like a pissed off monster in the distance. My honed instincts kick in and I manage to roll onto my back and sit up groaning with the protest that my body is giving off with the sudden pressure. I need to move or else I am going to die, or worse, be captured. Worse than death. I weakly crawl up, looking at the man sized hole I came out of and now find myself behind the mansion in an alley. I wait a second, poised to throw my last dagger if he steps through, then when nothing happens decide to figure out if the fight is over. I hear a crowd gathering in the front of the mansion and quickly shift a trash can underneath the hole and with a jump, haul myself up. The grip is unsteady with the amount of blood leaking onto it. I peek my head up and oh- that's a lot of blood.

At least the fight is over now.

I'm greeted upon my re-entry of Scotch who looks like he just exploded with how much blood is sprayed out from him. Very much akin to a ripe tomato thrown against the ground. I don't remember hitting him with any attacks that could do that, so the only thing I can formulate from scrambled thoughts is that all of the damage added up and was staved off with cover, and then his blood pressure rocketed from his limit break, and when he didn't maintain it the result was explosive blood. I paled at that, I hadn't even considered bleeding out to be that big of a problem when potions can heal cuts absurdly fast and act as stimulants in place of blood loss, but apparently human limits can only be stretched so far.

I gather up supplies from both rooms, as much gil, medicine, and ammo as I could carry and grab the gun Scotch was using. I pop out my materia from the ruined armband. In the game you never had to worry about sharpening weapons or maintaining armor, something I was sorely jealous of. I would be getting more armor. Anything that saved my life was good in my book. My body seems to plead for sleep the entire time I rush around, trying to get looting done before someone walks in on the bloody scene. The age old tradition of looting the enemies you defeat is not only practiced in the world, it's encouraged. In the slums anything is fair game with very little moral boundaries. I thrived in it.

I was in pain and had to do everything with one arm. The hole in the injured arm wasn't hurting much, just debilitating, it was still bad enoug I had to hold some scraps of cloth to stop the blood flow and pour the only hi-potion Scotch had onto it. Sadly no materia other than the cover Scotch used and little gil. All the other materia and items, if there were any, were shattered by the bomb. I glance at the corpse of the man who gave me trouble in a fight and then plant a bullet in his head. I was not intending to take chances of gaining myself a recurring nemesis. The fight isn't over when your opponent "dies", it's over when you kill your opponent. The humans in this world vary an absurd amount. For all I know he might've actually been able to survive what looked like his heart exploding, so I wasn't going to take chances on that front. It takes just one moment of being careless and things go wrong.

I then slowly walk over to the hole in the wall intending on making my exit there since the front entrance was now too crowded, then drop out into the dark alley. The two story drop sends shocks running up my legs and pains my entire body. The fight is catching up to me and my body seems to almost be crying in complaint with how battered it is. I might just be too tired to fully enjoy the pain my body is experiencing. I quickly brush and wipe off as much blood as I can from the uniform, best not to freak people out, before leaving the alley and getting lost in the crowd, making my way towards the inn. Progress feels good, but damn can it be hard to get things in order before it happens.

* * *

I awake to the sound of the world shaking and people panicking and screaming. A moment later an enraged roar bellowed out from the other end of Wall Market. I sluggishly got up, my body still hasn't fully recovered from the ordeal of, after a quick look at the clock,...yesterday. I had slept for most of the day it seems. The hole in my arm is closing up nicely, the bones slowly mending back together and muscle crawling over it. It should be fixed in a day or two. It was fascinating watching wounds recover so quickly in a disgusting, hypnotizing way. The explosion that I heard must be the sector 5 bombing mission success, but I have no idea what the roar was. I seemed to have slept the entire afternoon. I needed to get ready to head to sector 7 and be there to give the information about Shinra's plans to collapse the support beam to AVALANCHE. That could wait awhile, it should take the group a good bit to get back to sector 7. I got up and lazily stretched, bones popping and muscles shifting causing a slight twinge in my back making me wince. From growing pains or the fight from yesterday it's hard to tell with how absurdly fast recovery is. Hearing the roar again and wanting to know what the hell it was, I decide to stick my head out the window, seeing that everyone else was doing the same thing. I heard the bellow once again and finally pinpointed it, and of course it came from the Don's mansion. A final explosion ripped the place apart, destroying the already damaged mansion, and bursting through the rubble was a troll because that's all it could be. Alps, the troll boss that Corneo housed underneath his bedroom for who knows what reason, somehow managed to break out. A mutant troll with hoofs and a two pronged tail with a long tongue trailing on the ground. With giant hands it sifted its way out and was met with fleeing crowds. There was a harness mounted on him, almost like someone intended to ride it into battle. What? I knew for a fact this didn't happen in the game, and the only thing I could connect it to were my fights in there and all the explosives used. Did that somehow weaken the structure and let him escape? Well shit.

Before I could contemplate on what to do, as it may of been my fault that there was now a hulking goblinoid rampaging, the people of Wall Market took action. The bodybuilders club was directing and policing people, each man was a pillar of muscle and easily seen in the crowd, and everyone seemed to be sprouting weapons from out of nowhere. Swords, axes, clubs, guns, spears were all readied and organization of the defense began.

Before Alps could adjust to the bright lights, a far contrast from his cell, he was hit with a hail of gunfire. Tracer rounds filled the air in between the monster and crowd. It was tall enough, almost 20 feet hunched over, that people could shoot over heads without worrying about friendly fire. The small arms didn't seem to be doing much besides fill the air with sharp cracks, not penetrating the hide at all. I paled when I came to the realization that my knives wouldn't be able to do much of anything against it, and I wasn't one to go charging into battle relying on limit breaks. Maybe I could nick an artery or go for the eyes. Grenade? I really needed materia, this would be so much easier if I had something destructive. I set about preparing to head out and kept an eye on the distant battle. This thing was going to take awhile to kill with just small arms fire. At this point Alps was tired of just standing there and taking hits, so it started to lumber away from the mansion towards Wall Market holding up his broken-shackle clad hands to cover his face. There were ace snipers among the multitude of people and managed to pick off the troll eyes and to my horror new ones pushed the old eyes out of the sockets. Troll regeneration. No way that I could kill it now in any realistic way. A group of mercenaries met the trolls charge with swords drawn and cut off its advance to the rest of the strip. Several died but they batted away strikes of Alps hands with mako enhanced swings and darting in and slashing his legs regardless of the small amount of damage. Several seemed to be concentrating on firing off spells. The monster took notice and made a strange, fuzzy motion with its hands and then water came rushing up from the streets underneath. Magic troll boss. Shaman troll? Luckily the water didn't do much besides knock a few people down and made footing precarious as there wasn't enough water that was summoned. It did disrupt the spellcasters as water bursting out from the sewer underneath was just a bit distracting. It was a far contrast to the game where it summoned a giant wave, I would think that it would summon the water out of nowhere like ice or fire but I guess monster magic works differently. Was there a way I could override its mako? No, it probably had more mako in it than I had blood in me.

A sharp crash was heard and I saw the fucking tank roll through the wall of the weapons store. The cavalry was here. Cheering people got out of the way fast. As it was moving it fired a shell shattering all of the windows around it. The resounding boom and the troll flailing, then falling to the ground, was satisfying to watch. A chunk of it's shoulder was missing and it struggled to get up. I felt a bit useless sitting up in my room so jumped out the window and started to make my way towards it. I would help out in any way that I could. Alps was ever so slowly getting up, but was met with a burst of several different types of magic going off in the gaping hole stopping its regeneration and setting it to trying to smother the flames that sprouted from the wound. It managed to by sticking it's tongue into the wound and smothering the fires with thick saliva. I really needed materia, I was jealous of those mercenaries. Maybe if a few of them died in the fight...no, I couldn't bring myself to do that to honest people trying to save their homes. The monster screamed, turned, and started running away, scaling up the wall separating the sectors and killing several people in its mad dash. I saw someone underneath the monster, too focused on readying a spell, and rushed to pull him out of the way. Sure enough another shell fired and the troll, who managed to scale the wall frighteningly fast, fell down screaming the entire way. When it landed there was a crack and I was standing off to the side with a jarred looking teenager in my grips. The monster seemed to have broken something important and moaned on the ground lashing out when it could. People realizing that the small arms weren't going to kill it and no clear shot waited for the tank to close in. It took a minute for it to get there and it aimed its tracks to the monster's head, aiming to run it over like a melon. A tank that was about the size of the monster. And I thought I was brutal. It seemed like a dog's death. Better than it being captured again. Who knew how long it sat there in the dark basement chained up.

When the tank rolled near, the mako in the air spiked and mako slowly started to bleed off from the crippled monster as it realized what was coming. Nothing as absurd as Scotch or me, but it started to shift and thrash more and more, apparently the regeneration kicking back in at overtime. I activated sense and managed to step back when the monster tried to scrabble up by gripping the wall, but somehow by sheer luck its hand got pulled underneath the tank. It really started to panic then. I saw with clarity only sense could bring that the monster was going to reach over and get its other hand on the tank. I didn't doubt for a second that it would somehow manage to throw it off even in its weakened state if it got the leverage. So I ran and grabbed onto its arm, the only thing I could think of on such short notice. It's hand was as big as me and it felt more like getting slammed by a couch falling down a flight of stairs. I enhanced my muscles to the point that they burned, the exertion was making wounds from past fights painfully come to the front of my attention, all just to slow the creeping advance of the hand. It wasn't enough, a finger managed to dig into the tank armor earning a screeching sound and frantic yelling, until several others came and helped out. Several large bodies slammed into it and managed to snap the wrist in the process. The moment was what the tank needed to bear all of its weight on the skull, popping it like a melon crushed by a sledgehammer. A pitiful sound was heard, even with its head crushed, but was drowned over the sound of cheering. The fight was over, in an almost pitiful conclusion too. Now my exhaustion was creeping back into my bones. Waking up to this was a too much and I felt myself slump down. Even with the small respite my body needs more.

Cheering sounded but I was tired enough to barely manage to sit up, dimly hearing everything around me. It was an intense 15 minute fight, but the strain was too much for me. Even with enhanced healing I took an absurd amount of damage recently. About a day's worth of rest wouldn't cut it for time to heal. I couldn't see myself fighting that thing alone and was glad that people weren't mindless NPC's who would run in terror. Sure not all of them were great fighters but they contributed. No idea how Cloud and company killed it with just three people, one a novice at that. People clapped me on the back and congratulated me for stepping in and I was offered free drinks and food. I look around and saw familiar looking graffiti and realized we were in the alley that you climb a wire that hangs down from the plate above again, with the wire hanging down from the plate sure enough. So that's how Alps was climbing so fast. I really must've been tired to not notice that. I allowed myself to be dragged to a place to eat by a particularly incessant attempt to get me to move from my prone position. Stumbling along I'm surprised that my uniform didn't seem to scare anybody off. Food is ordered and I set into it eager to eat and refuel my body. The smell dragging me out of my exhausted daze.

"Of course it was fucking you, I almost had a god damned heart attack when I saw it wasn't crippled from that fall. Only the mother fucker who buys tank shells is crazy enough to do that shit." A glance up shows the weapon store owner grinning down over a plate of food. He had brown sandy hair and chubby features, he looked friendly and approachable. He also had food stuck in his beard. "Are you the Vice they were looking for? I'm Mark, but everyone calls me Arsenal, if you ever want to buy some more explosives come to my store and I'll set you up." What? I was too tired to piece together how he knew, as I know I didn't give him my name when I went shopping. He then offers me an honest to god handshake. Now I'm really confused. I definitely did not choke on my food in surprise at the familiar gesture.

"How?" Was all I managed to say in between coughs. We are eating Korean BBQ and being bone weary really brings out the flavor even if it seems to be disappearing too fast. Usually I wouldn't notice and just get the cheapest thing on the menu, but this is a special occasion. It's being paid for. I would of picked up cooking if I had the time, I had a general idea of what to do, but eating improperly cooked monster parts can only end in disaster. The prospect of free food was only offset and ignored by the fact that they had glorious ramen here in this world. Dirt cheap ramen.

"Next time you want to fuck someone over don't fill out visitation forms." I stare blankly at him. Was he joking? That's how they knew my name? No finding Rilo and being interrogated? He just laughs seeing my stunned expression.

"Don't worry, you're alright in my book. Even if it was dumb as hell. Eat up because it's all on me. Someone who saved my baby deserves a treat." I was thankful for this. I guess I did save his tank from getting trashed, but really it could've been anybody. The only reason I got there first was because I was the fastest i'm pretty sure. I really needed to sit back and relax for a while now. I feel like I was slipping up and there is still so much ahead of me and it all suddenly seemed much more daunting. We finish the meal in silence. Unlike Jakayo this man can tell that I am in no mood for small talk. When we finish I feel the urge to just sit in this position and to let the moment of not worrying about things continue on forever. The moment passed when he spoke up.

"So what are your plans now? The Don had connections with Shinra and you don't want no Turks breathing down your neck." Little did he know. "I think I got an idea of a group that you can join..." he trailed off looking unsure. Now this I wanted to hear about. He couldn't possibly mean AVALANCHE right? That would be too easy and it just doesn't work like this.

"In sector 7 there's an anti-Shinra group that's gaining ground. Bunch of crazy fucks like you, I heard they were responsible for the attacks on the mako reactors. I'm sure if you found them, they would let you in since you fucked over the Don, better than living on the run anyways." He shrugs, then looks unsure about something. "How old are you anyways? You can't be more than what, 18? You sure this is what you want?" I just shrug, not willing to give a commitment. I was pretty sure I was older but pointing that out would make me look immature. What I want is to find out who did this to me and make them pay, I would think about what comes next after. Asking a question of my own in return.

"How do you know about them anyways?" I'm genuinely curious. My natural disposition to finding out how things connect flaring up and perking me up slightly. I really was way too tired to do any extraneous activities and needed to take it easy. This was easy and interesting grilling someone for answers. I have another day to recover before Cloud makes his way to sector 7 since today was almost ending, I just needed to relay the information to the group and then I would get that much needed rest.

"Big black motherfucker with a gun on his arm always screaming fuck Shinra, fuck this, fighting with customers at 7th heaven. Big, angry, loud, and scary dude. Wouldn't be surprised if he was in it at all. He'd Know for sure, but it's your own risk asking him. I don't want to hear about your corpse showing up, it wouldn't be good for my conscious." He points out. I lean back in the chair, getting lost in my thoughts.

That...actually made sense. Barret certainly wasn't inconspicuous at all. No wonder in the game the Don found out about their hideout so soon after the first bombing mission that happened yesterday. Has it really only been a day? They really must be great fighters to be able to assault the guarded reactors back to back. I was wondering if things would change somehow, if Shinra would still collapse the sector plate now that the Don's men are dead but it seems likely there are plenty of other sources to find out where they are. Barret really needed to learn to not stand out so much if he wants to lead a terrorist cell. First rule of leading a terrorist organization, you do not talk about the organization. I can sort of understand why they would collapse part of the city just to get rid of the small group now. The prospect that someone can blitz through the defenses and the security measures also being compromised is terrifying. It was the only way it'd make sense because Jessie, the group technician and hacker, somehow managed to keep basic alarms from going off during the attacks and gave them access passes for the trains to escape.

"Hmmm," I hum in thought. I really should leave soon as it's nearing the end of the day and the men were found by Tifa and Barret on the same day they got back, I think. I wasn't sure but it's better to not take the chance with this. Time seems to go by differently without the sky. The bombing mission being done at the end of the day again as in the game, so nothing thrown off yet, and they still needed time to get back to their hideout. It's only been about an hour since the bomb went off so I still have time. I was on schedule thankfully. "I think i'm going to head to sector 7 soon. I've been meaning to meet with the group for a while now actually...Say, do you happen to know how to get to 7th heaven?" Better to get a move on. With several other minor questions I leave Wall Market behind.

* * *

It was almost disappointingly easy getting into sector 7. Stepping in view of the metal gates that would lead to them, and were now open unlike in the game, I snuck past a formed line with mako enhanced movements in several quick strides when the small group of Shinra soldiers inside the gatehouse, operating the official looking gate, were distracted. The line was just for a routine search done on people going to and leaving the sector. There was a bit of an undertone of panic because of the bomb but the six soldiers kept things organized and calmed. It must of been a madhouse before but they now have got things sorted. The security troops were not heavily armed, the small squad just being outfitted with rifles. Strange how average rifles were no longer considered a true threat for me. I think I could probably take a few hits without cover since they were lower caliber than what the Don's men were using and I had took several shots from them. Mako is bullshit. The red clothed men had no body armor and were just checking for anything explicitly illegal. They didn't seem to particularly care for their jobs of checking each individual's bag and pockets for things. Things like drugs which were packed to the brim in my knapsack. I'm actually a bit upset I couldn't stock up on grenades, but Arsenal made it clear the Don bought up most of the truly dangerous things and got it out of the sector to keep his thugs best outfitted. He only barely managed to convince the Don to let him have his tank tinkering hobby by personally outfitting his underlings with weapons and armbands. With his mansion now being investigated for signs of AVALANCHE and where the hell the monster came from there was no way I was getting back in to see if there were more goodies hidden away. Shinra had that place locked down and was looking for what had scared off their pawn. They say don't return to the scene of the crime...a third time, and I was starting to run out of room to carry things. It was actually starting to get awkward carrying my knapsack around on my back with the weight shifting around every so often because of the multitude of items and medicine. I was also worried that I would draw attention carrying around Scotch's gun, but since everyone was armed I was never accosted by people walking by. Plenty of glares because of the uniform though.

I was now in sector 7. I finally reached the goal I had been aiming at and working towards for a month. Satisfaction flooded through me. I was making progress. The hard work, determination, and conviction paying off.

The sudden change of scenery was nice compared to the run down sectors of 5 and 6. There was a clear view of the plate above with no mountains of trash, rubble, or large buildings to block the sight. The underside was lined with pipes and walkways that must of been massive to see it from so far down. It was almost like staring up at a maze there were so many wires and pipes uniformly laid. I saw glimpses of it before, but never to this extent. There was also very little debris around, almost like it was swept. A dirt path looked to be maintained and led off somewhere. Unreadable signs pointed out directions. The sector pillar that supported the plate above could be seen in the distance with cables latched on, the site of the future attack at the very top of it. It was refreshing to have all this open space, and best of all, there were people walking around! Not like the packed Wall Market but enough to be assured that help would come if there was a monster attack. I could tell that this place didn't see much hardship as there were children running around in groups. Back in the camp kids weren't allowed outside the camp without supervision, monster threats were always a thing. Here, I couldn't see a place where monsters could be hiding. Very, very refreshing. I could get used to this. It was peaceful and seemed so out of place with what I've experienced so far in this world.

Of course, as soon as I thought that, rounding a bend I found myself facing down the barrel of a gun. Specifically a gun arm attached to a big black man, and three other people.

"Don't fucking move, ya asshole. We're going to be asking you some questions. Mainly about what the hell you think you're doing here! Try to move and I'll blow your damn head off!"

Ah, that's more what I was expecting.


	8. Interlude 1- Fallacy of Fate

Aerith tended to the strange man that fell from the plate above. Her mother always called her silly, but she didn't think it was silly that someone might think fate had a play in leading him here of all places. This place was special after all, she could almost hear the planet talking to her. A far contrast to anywhere else in Midgar. It also helped that he was cute and made her feel just a bit wishful. The man groaned and she helped shift him to a more comfortable position to make him feel better. For the several hours that he has laid in the middle of the flowerbed after the ordeal she saw bruises heal and cuts mend over by themselves, almost like what she can do. It was fascinating to watch. Watch him heal. Not watch him sleep. That'd be unladylike.

It seems that lately strange people have been coming into her life. She thought back to the strange child that was brought in 3 months ago. Vice was...quite unlike anybody she had ever met. He was dedicated even more so than Rilo ever was. There was an intensity about him that made it uncomfortable to be around. She shuddered just at the thought of being near him again, once was enough. Everything about him was just off. He was just too driven, no fun, grew up too fast, fought too much, and the strange feeling he put off was the planet's way of letting her know to stay clear of him. He was trouble.

She did at first, but eventually she needed to know why the planet was telling her this. What the reasoning behind it was. The kids told her that nothing was wrong with him, he had never been mean to them but wouldn't really play with them either. He was scary, but all the adults thought that he was responsible and could be relied on. Her mother even hinted at trying to set them up, bringing a blush to her face. That was not going to happen. When she heard that he was teaching the kids how to use materia she just had to go and meet him, it was the perfect opportunity to do so. She had materia that she needed to know how to use also, which solidified her decision. What could happen if they just met once?

Then everything went wrong. She should of listened to the planet. They hadn't even talked much when it happened. Then it happened again just a few hours ago. At least things looked her way now with cute men falling from the sky because of it.

She was glad that the yellow haired man in her lap didn't give off that strange feeling. She once again looked over at the large blade the man carried and her heart twinged, but she wouldn't let the past hold her back. It was bad enough with her mom's shameless hints of finding someone else. She sold enough couples flowers to want the same thing, it had been long enough. She poked the man again, looking for a response other than a groan and mumbling.

"Oh! It moved!."

The man started to shift and squirm as if experiencing something unpleasant. He started to shake his head from side to side and groaned, eyes fluttering awake and shifting faster. She hadn't seen anybody like him in the slums before, his hair was interesting and his eyes…they were mesmerizing.

"Hello, hello?" She called out to him, hopefully helping wake him up from his dream. There was more mumbling, almost as if he was talking to himself. She tried calling him again to snap him out of it and then he sat up slowly at the sound of her voice. She stood up since his head was no longer on her lap and waited for him to notice her. She pouted just a little though, she had wanted the first thing he saw waking up to be her face. He seemed to stare off into nothing for several seconds and she became a bit worried. She put her hands behind her back and leaned down calling out to him. Maybe he would turn around fast and be surprised with how close she was.

"You okay?" his head shot to the side, not quite focusing in on her so she continued. "This is a church in the sector 5 slums. It suddenly fell on top of me and gave me a scare."

"... I came crashing down?" Oh no, he still sounded so confused. He must of hit his head a lot harder than she thought.

"The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall. You're lucky."

He shakes his head again and seems to finally realize where he is. He shoots up and with an apologetic look on his face, and an apology already forming on his lips. "Flower bed…...Is this yours?" He turns to face her and oh dear he is a lot cuter when his eyes are turned to her. She could get used to this attention. "Sorry about that." He brushes himself off and just shrugs the dust and ashes off as if falling hundreds of feet was no big deal.

"That's all right. The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place. They say you can't grow grass or flowers in Midgar. But for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here." Even though she would never admit it out loud she knew it was magic. She was proud of this place. People already thought that she was silly enough believing in actual materia-less magic. But because this place was magical it was truly special to her here. Just thinking about it brought a warmth to her chest and she felt that much closer to the planet, it almost singing to her. She felt that if her mom was watching, her real mom, she would be proud.

"I love it here." She whispers out, warmth once again flooding her chest. She then turns and starts straightening out the flowers that were flattened by him. An awkward silence follows, she really wished that there was something that could connect them so he doesn't wander off so soon. Maybe she could sell him flowers, but making him pay as soon as he woke up, now that was silly and would be rude. She thinks about what to say, then remembers her lesson with Vice.

"Do you have any materia?" She blurts out. All men are interested in are materia and fighting, so she knows that this would intrigue him. Or at the least get him talking.

He seems to think about it for a second, he really must of hit his head hard. He needs some rest. "Yes, some?" He sounds unsure about it. Yes, definitely needs sleep. Luckily there was an extra bed at her house. She was sure her mom wouldn't mind if she brought a cute boy home as long as they slept in different beds. Maybe he would sneak in the middle of the night.. She felt a blush starting to creep up but managed to push it back down.

"Nowadays you can find materia anywhere." Vice's lesson came to the front of her mind. He must mean manufactured ones. She absentmindedly tugged at her hair where the materia her mother, her true mother, gave her. This would get his attention.

"But mine is special. It's good for absolutely nothing." Oh yes, that confused look is what she wanted to see. He couldn't help but try to figure it out now. She could feel a grin creeping onto her face. Maybe every time he used a materia he would wonder about her and her special materia.

"...good for nothing? You just don't know how to use it." She pouted, she knew how to use materia now! Even still, when she tried to use it, even after training, nothing happened still.

"No, I do….it just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's." Oops. Usually she didn't like talking about her mom, especially to strangers least something slipped, she blamed it on him being cute. Cute boys were easy to talk to. Nothing like how intimidating it was talking with Vice with the feeling that hung over him. She looked up with a shudder, she could almost feel her mom watching her from above telling her that it was going to be okay. She had seen the sky before, unlike a lot of people growing up in the slums, and could picture her somewhere out there in the endless blue. She felt like talking more as the yellow haired stranger was quiet and standing as if waiting for something. He really was making her wishful.

"I feel like talking." She blushed, she didn't mean to be that direct. It just kind of slipped from her mouth. "Wait here. I've got to check my flowers. It'll be just a minute." She turned and walked off blowing out her cheeks and trying to stop the blush. Hopefully he hadn't seen it. She set to work, she wasn't really worried about the flowers, this place was magical and they would heal. She waited a bit, and a smirk crept up. When he seemed impatient and about to talk to her, she told him to wait a minute teasingly, then she remembered that they didn't know each other's names after stifling her giggles.

"Oh! Now that you mention it...We don't know each other's name, do we? I'm Aerith, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."

The stranger nodded as if focusing on remembering her name, then struck a pose. It was a bit silly but she thought he did look slightly more cute with his cocky stance. "The name's Cloud." Oh he really was cocky, it would be fun teasing him. "Me….? I do a little bit of everything."

She saw someone walk into the church...Uh oh, it was Reno again, probably coming to hit on her. He was aggravating and didn't know how to take a hint, but he showed up every once in awhile to talk about things. Mainly about joining Shinra as a secretary or something. He stood in the back of the church, just looking at what was going on with a frown. Then she heard a tiny, faint whisper from the planet telling her that something was wrong. She didn't like this.

"Oh...A jack of all trades?" Maybe she could have him help her out.

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed." It looks like he just might. Her mother's words about bodyguards coming to the front of her mind. She managed not to blush this time, she needed to be serious for this. Once again, he struck a ridiculous pose and she couldn't help but laugh. So much for serious.

"What's so funny? What are you laughing at?" Oh yes teasing him and bringing that attitude down was going to be fun. She smiled as if thinking about it. "Sorry...I Just-" Suddenly the feeling of wrong got worse. She felt it coming from Reno, it was almost like Vice just nowhere near as bad. Not even close, but enough to make her curious. She couldn't help but turn to him and stare. Cloud seemed a bit put off getting laughed at and promptly ignored, so he turned to leave. "Cloud! Don't let it get to you!" He shrugged and with an annoying smirk he turned back around. Before he could say anything she rushed ahead of him verbally. "Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?" She couldn't help but ask slightly worried. He nodded and she took that as a chance to go on.

"Then, get me out of here, take me home." The wrong still hasn't gone away. She thought that maybe it was just Reno being jealous of her talking to a cute guy, but now she was uneasy and wanted out.

"OK, I'll do it….But it will cost you." Drat. She hoped being a cute girl would be enough. Being cute let her sell flowers for good prices, but apparently only got her so far. She could work with it though.

"Well then….let's see…" She put her hands behind her back and stuck out her chest a bit. "How about I go out with you once?" Let him think what he wants with that. She smirked. He seemed to think about it with a grin, but then surprisingly turned to Reno. Uh oh. She thought that he hadn't seen him. While two guys fighting over her would be nice, they better not fight in the church.

"I don't know who you are but…" He shakes his head as if trying to remember something. "You don't know me...?" Reno asks. Cloud shakes his head again. It's getting pretty strange how he keeps doing that now. "Oh yeah...I know you...that uniform." He still sounds unsure.

Reno says something into his cuff and suddenly Shinra soldiers in blue uniforms file into the church. "Hey sis...This guy is a little weird." The grunt said pointing towards Cloud who looked ready to dive to his sword on the ground. She might of actually believed him if the feeling of wrong wasn't coming from them. She usually wouldn't trust men that fell from the sky but Cloud seemed okay. Better than them at least.

"Shut up! You Shinra spy!" Cloud really seems ready to fight now. His hands shoot out and grab his sword off the ground.

"Reno! Want him taken out?" One of the soldiers raise their gun at Cloud. Double drat this is bad.

"I haven't decided yet." Reno looks thoughtful, almost as if he recognizes Cloud. The feeling didn't go away though. She needed to end this stare down before things got worse.

"Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" Not fighting at all would be for the best. She took off running and hopefully Cloud would follow her. She felt a strange feeling wash over her, almost as if this exact thing was supposed to happen and they would be fine but she shook it off. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

It really was interesting looking back. Somehow her and Cloud ran away together through the church and got away from Reno, who was a Turk. Looking back the suit should of made it obvious, but she didn't expect a Turk to be so cheerful and friendly. So much had happened so fast. Cloud was an ex-SOLDIER, so maybe he knew him. No, she didn't want things to be awkward and ask what happened to him. That's not something you ask a cute boy on the first date, and she already said she wouldn't be held back. They were now on their way back to her home. She blushed just thinking about bringing home a guy and what her mother would say. But there was no way she would let him go into sector 6 at night. She didn't think even Vice would go then. Well, she had heard several people swear up and down that they saw him come back into camp several times in the morning covered in wounds, almost as if he spent the night out there. She shuddered, actually thinking about it, that might be something he would do. She couldn't tell with him, nothing like what she knew and felt when it came to other people. He wanted to fight too badly, but never talked about the fights he was in. They must be really bad and scary to not brag about them at all. Even Rilo would tell stories to the kids when he was exhausted from working out and had nothing else to do. Eventually the kids learned to not bother asking him about fighting. Instead they would watch him practice his flips and rolls from the side, which he somehow used when fighting. She still couldn't figure out how. She just knew he was good at it.

The area around camp was much safer now because of Vice, she grudgingly had to admit. Her and Cloud didn't encounter a single monster on the walk back. Before, on her walks to and from the church, she would have to swat at the occasional hedgehog pie or whole eater until they decided to go away when she encountered them. She just ran away from the awful smelling hobgoblins. It hadn't happened after Vice went about systematically hunting down all the monsters around camp. She remembered it was all the adults tried to figure out for several weeks. Who would find a way to kill all the monsters around the camp, and not make a big deal about it? Apparently Vice. He was all the adults talked about now. The bodies attracted more, he would hunt those down, eventually to the point where there was almost none left. Then he moved on to sector 6. Everyone was impressed by the single minded determination that he put into his simple plan.

That made Rilo mad.

Something about her friend changed then. The more he heard of Vice the angrier and colder he got. He started to do everything that Vice did and she was worried. The kids complained to her about what he did. He went off by himself, attacked groups of monsters, practiced until exhaustion, and pushed himself harder than he ever had before. He stopped talking to other people and did everything to become stronger. He was scarier than the time his brother had died. She still remembered getting the feeling that he had died one day at the church. There was no strange feeling she got from him though. Vice wasn't able to corrupt him yet thankfully.

By now they were coming back to the camp and she was worried she would be seeing Vice. She hadn't seen him since he last ran off. Maybe it would be the last time that she would see him. Idly she wondered if Cloud was stronger than him. Maybe beat him up? Since he hadn't done anything on the walk over he should be useful for something. Upon returning to camp she was met with a familiar sight. A smile blossomed on her face.

"Aerith! Have you seen Vice?" Jakayo shouts and waves while the trio walks towards them. The smile faded at the name. "Rilo is back!" Tessa interjects with a soft smile from beside her brother. Jonni has a lackadaisical grin and stares at Cloud who is standing slightly in front of her as if the kids were a threat.

"That's nice sweetie! I'd like you to meet someone who was in SOLDIER." Their eyes lit up. He was in for it now. "Cloud was 1st-class!" She happily purred, glad to talk about anything else. It was too easy to distract the blue haired brat of sector 5.

Immediately Cloud was swamped with questions and seemed unsure of what to do when confronted like this. He looked so much better flustered. Now it was time for the hard part of bringing him home. Hopefully her mother wouldn't tease her too much. But she was tired and just a little bit scared. The explosion going off right above them was hard to ignore and everyone seemed on edge, even hours later. She knew she was after the whole ordeal. Hopefully her mom would understand why she was late.

She managed to drag Cloud away from the kids who were looking at his sword and the materia inside of it asking questions. She walked him over to the small alley that led to her house. Upon arriving at the flower filled little enclosure a genuine smile formed on her face. She was safe here. Cloud seemed startled over the abrupt change of scenery.

"I'm home, mom." She called out. When she saw the brown haired woman wearing a simple dress poke her head around the corner of the house and come over dread filled her, she had a knowing smirk on her face seeing Cloud, but thankfully she was silent. For now.

"This is Cloud. My bodyguard." She didn't miss her mother's smirk falter.

"Bodyguard….? You mean you were followed again!? She crept closer, an analytical look on her face taking in the several smudges on her dress. She worked hard to keep the dress clean. A girl needed to take pride in what she wore. Only hussies didn't care about what they were wearing, showing practically everything for boys to oogle over them.

"Are you alright!? You're not hurt are you?" There was a hint of mania in her mother's voice. What was bringing this on?

"I'm all right." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I had Cloud with me." Relief flooded her mother face.

"Thank you, Cloud." She bowed to him. Cloud didn't seem to know what to say either and just stood there awkwardly. Her mom took the opportunity to leave and go work in the garden.

"So what are you going to do now?" Cloud seemed better, less confused, and she was genuinely curious, what was he doing on the plate before the explosion?

"...Is sector 7 far from here? I want to go to Tifa's bar." Cloud muttered. He seemed lost in thought, almost as if...

Oh no…

"Is Tifa….a girl?" She wrung her hands and smoothed out her dress.

"Yeah" How dense could he get? Just yeah? Like she'd be happy with just that. She tentatively asked him again.

"A girl….friend?"

He seems to lock up in place. Then shakes his head vigorously. Once more deep in thought. Not suspicious at all.

"You don't have to get THAT upset. Well still, that's...nice " She was just a bit confused. Why would fate bring her someone, only for him to like another girl? It must be the planet's way of getting her to work for what she wants. Maybe she should go with him to meet Tifa.

"Let's see...sector 7? I'll show you the way!" A cheery smile and bright tone wasn't reflected on Cloud.

Cloud changed into an aggressive stance, leaning closer to her. "You got to be kidding. Why do you want to put yourself in danger again?" He jabs a finger at her face. Has he lived on the plate his entire life? Everywhere was dangerous.

"I'm used to it." She calmly replies. What was he getting worked up about?

"Used to it? Well...I don't know...getting help from a girl" No. He. Didn't.

"A girl! What do you mean by that? You expect me to sit by and listen, after hearing something like that!? MOM! I'm taking Cloud to sector 7. I'll be back in a while."

"But dear...I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind. But if you must go, why don't you go tomorrow? It's getting late now." Her mom softly spoke poking her head from around the corner again. Was she listening to the conversation? Still, she knew how dangerous sector 6 was at night. Everyone knew.

A loose smile tugged at her lips. Just as planned. This way she didn't have to suggest spending the night to Cloud. That would be way too embarrassing. "Yeah, you're right mom." Maybe her mom would help her out here.

"Aerith, please go and make the guest bed." Her mother sighed as if giving in. She took that as her cue to leave and get ready for the night. She started to make her way inside with a smile on her face.

She was happy. Once again she had the feeling that everything was right in the world. That things were meant to be this way. That Fate was guiding her to her destiny. She was even spending time with a cute boy! That was until she heard her mother mutter something under her breath.

"You wouldn't of been in trouble if Vice was there."

Blood seemed to freeze in her body. She turned to scream at her mom, to deny it, when she saw Cloud looking at her curiously. She couldn't freak out in front of him. She huffed, opened the door and stomped up the steps leading to her room and the guest one. The happy feeling in her chest shattered.


	9. Chapter 7- Retained Reminisce

"What the fuck does a punk ass thug like you think they are doing around here?" Barret says in my face. He was just a little taller than me standing at 6'5. He was a big man, with most of it being muscle. A lot different than my thin and wiry build. He would fit right in with the body builders I saw in Wall Market.

I was being confronted much sooner than I would've hoped unfortunately. Not even half an hour of making my way towards the bar and already I was stopped. I was planning to convey the information on my own terms, preferably in a situation where there is no possibility of me getting shot at. Not like this with a gun aimed at me. If they were actively searching for something to take their minds off losing Cloud then squeezing a known affiliate of the Don for information is what they think they just found. Unfortunately that affiliate was me. I'm not sure how exactly they found out I was in their territory so soon, but the slight damage to clothes and bruisings alluded to them just coming back from the reactor bombing mission. They also seemed pissed. Lashing out was most likely what was going on here. In the game, the Don's men would arrive at sector 7 looking for his wife, pissing them all off in the process, then getting interrogated for everything about their boss. The Don being a known affiliate with Shinra would make them curious as to how, and then Tifa would infiltrate his mansion for further information. They didn't have to worry about that now. Getting interrogated wasn't something that I wanted done to me because I was helping them out. I honestly tried thinking of ways around it but it always resolved to being believed and getting attention.

Before I left Wall Market, I considered changing my clothes because the lackey uniform had too much of a reputation associated with it, even in the other sectors. The notoriety would benefit me here. It helped that it was attention grabbing. Probably the most eye catching thing about it was the mask. Slum dwellers were naturally inclined to being distrustful of strangers, and it just gets worse trying to hide any aspect of yourself from them. Concealed weapon? Threat. Concealed face? Spy. Trying to hide? Guilty of something. Can't see anything wrong about them? Very suspicious. It's a sad reality that I live in where they are right most of the time. I was placing my bets that I wouldn't get shot in the back. Hopefully nobody would take me up on that. Too dangerous of an assumption normally, but I was on a tight schedule and activated sense sporadically to try to keep some sense of security in this dangerous situation. Bodies would commonly show up in the slums so it wasn't unheard of for someone getting gutted. My paranoia paid off and let me know that the group was headed towards me so I didn't full out panic and run off or fight at the first sign of confrontation. I had gotten too used to dictating battles on my terms. The pillar attack was going to go off tomorrow morning and the day was already half over. I wasn't sure what would happen when I told them about Shinra's plan. I was going to see it through even despite me not knowing. It was the right thing to do and could potentially save lives.

But still there was that niggling of doubt that blossomed in the back of my mind because of that. I didn't truly know these people. I didn't know how capable they were, after all, when they tried to stop the pillar attack they failed in the game. So how could I trust them when this is my first time meeting them? Just because I knew a facsimile of their true selves, that shouldn't mean anything at all. Do you unfailingly trust people that you hear about second hand? I sure as hell don't. My paranoia had earned me the respect of the adults in sector 5 because it kept me alive going out by myself. I rightfully believed that there was danger around every corner. Here it had me doubting the people that were destined to save the planet. I didn't want to doubt them, but my healthy paranoia towards anybody in this world goes against it.

Almost everyone portrayed in the game, aside from a choice few, are almost laughably incompetent at everything besides combat. Sneaking, deductive reasoning, finding out plans, all what should be simple reasoning ends up mostly relying on blind luck to see them through. What kind of hero was that? I hated relying on luck and would try to manipulate things so it would be an almost useless factor. I knew that I had took chances recently, and I would have to take more such as trusting the group now spread out in front of me. I was already suffering from taking chances and hoped to get my footing soon. That could come the sooner I was in the sector 7 camp and could situate myself. That I could get my hands on materia there also helped.

"AVALANCHE?" I intoned. I wasn't truly worried about getting my head blown off. I still agitated my mako and got ready to reinforce my head with cover. I really hated relying on luck and other people. The mako circulating inside of me reacted surprisingly fast, almost as if it wanted to be in this state of anticipating a fight. That never happened before, usually it took longer and was sluggish to get it to a point useful for combat. It was barely noticeable but I was fine tuned to my body. Is this what it felt like to sit on a limit break? I didn't feel as I was going to break out a devastating attack randomly. I focus back to the 'conversation' that was going on.

"Oh no you don't! I'M the one asking the questions here! ME! You got that? Now, what are you doing in my sector? What does that asshole Conero have planned now?" Barret almost growled out.

"I'm not with him." Agitation reaching my voice quickly and making them tense up. This, this right here is why I wanted things to be on my terms. Less accusations and no trouble conveying what I needed to. "I got into some trouble with them, that's why I got rid of them. It wasn't easy, but I got it done, and now I'm looking for AVALANCHE." A half truth. Which is the safest type of lie there is.

It took them a second to piece together what I said, and another to tell if I was serious or not. They probably guessed right when they spotted red stains that I couldn't get off and the damage to my armor and me. The hole in my arm had closed up, but the scabbing looked horrendous akin to a plague victim. Not to mention the clothing had several tears from bullets and shockwaves. It made it slightly uncomfortable to wear but it was better than nothing, what with my armband being ruined and having to of been thrown out. I could tell that I was a lot worse off than them. They didn't have anything that looked debilitating just a few burns and bruises. I wondered if it was because they were that good at fighting, or if it was restore materia.

Since there was no Tiffa I reasoned that they at least had the chance to get back before confronting me and rest for a bit. Jessie, the brown haired tech-savvy member of their team, lifted up her arm and started typing on a wrist mounted computer. Neat. I wanted one.

"How could a punk-ass twerp like you manage that? What's this got to do with us anyways, you ain't bringing trouble down on our heads that we don't need. Got enough problems as is." Barret said, then stepped forward, voice growing even deeper. "Explain. Now." So I did.

I gave it to them as simply as I could. My name, then how I got here. I had been given a job to find someone in Wall Market from sector 5. I found him at the Don's mansion where I was attacked. I didn't give a clear reason for it because they never asked. Apparently it wasn't that uncommon for the lackeys to basically rob people they found annoying or bothered them. It was uncommon for people to fight back. Almost unheard of. Attacking the Don's men inside the Don's mansion? Only a madman would bring his anger down on him. Then I explained the ensuring shit show of me going back to finish them, my reasoning being that they were out to get me so I would get them first. I put in that Scotch had said some things he knew about AVALANCHE that I thought they would be interested in. They seemed unsure about the story until Jessie seemed to find something. I was amazed that I even told it, it had been the single most amount of talking that I did since...well I learned how to talk. It wasn't uncommon for me to go days without talking, especially when I was in sector 6 hunting. I wasn't used to long drawn out conversations at all. I thought of this more as stating a series of events than a conversation which helped tremendously.

"Holy shit boss, he's not kidding. Just look at this, 'Donald Corneo's mansion destroyed in terrorist attack?' I don't believe it." Jessie held up the screen and everyone but Barret crowded around to read the news article. I couldn't read yet and was still being held up. It was still easy to guess what it was about. It basically blamed AVALANCHE for the attack and outlined the investigation so far. It seemed to be the general scapegoat Shinra set up. There was no mention of the monster being housed or of the dungeon underground that I heard from their mutterings and whispered conversation. Either they both burned or it was being covered up. Typical, when Shinra owns a monopoly on all the media you can expect things to be hidden like this. I had no idea that the Don's full name was Donald. It wasn't mentioned in the game. I had thought it was just a title alluding to him being the boss of a mafia, but maybe it wasn't. Or he just didn't use it. The title Don Donald Conero didn't have the same ring to it or strike as much fear into the hearts of enemies.

"What explosives did you use to deal that kind of damage? It almost looks like a monster rampaged around in his mansion." Jessie looked up and questioned me eyes sparkling with interest. I wouldn't be much help here. I didn't know what millimeter explosives were used in the shell I bought. She was spot on about the monster surprisingly.

"Cooked off a tank shell that I bought." I smirked at their stunned expressions but then it quickly left my face. I was actually proud of the damage I did to the priceless mansion. There had also been a monster rampaging in it, I was impressed she could tell from the pictures alone. A sour taste was still left in my mouth from the previous accusations they aimed at me and made me want to get this over with quickly.

"That's...unexpected, but the main question of why you are here still stands." Biggs, the black haired youth wearing a metallic headband and gripping a katana interjects. He was looking serious, they all had hardened expressions, but he had passion behind his eyes. Wedge, the round man holding a grenade launcher wearing a red bandana, nodded behind him looking like he just wants this to be over with also. Jessie is looking at me in a different light now, almost like trying to pick me apart which was a bit disturbing. Biggs was right, I had been putting it off. How do you go about telling a group that the government is willing to kill thousands to get rid of them. That their friend who they thought died was back? That you knew because you've experienced what was going to happen in a game?

To lie with something much less ridiculous of course. It's only natural to cover up something truly unbelievable with something suspicious. Keep them skeptical about your answer, not the real truth behind the answer.

"Before Scotch died, he said Shinra was going to kill everyone by dropping the plate on top of them. That they would destroy the sector pillar tomorrow." There was collective gasp and mutterings, but I continued, figuring I would give some good news with the bad. I had to wait for Barret to calm down so the others could hear. "He also said something about a yellow haired ex-SOLDIER member being sighted…" I said trailing off.

"CLOUD? Where is he!" Jessie blurted out. Jumping on the prospect that he was still alive. Then blushing furiously when everyone turned to her with varying expressions. Biggs and Wedge shared a look. Barret scowled. I stared blankly. Yeah, no crush on Cloud at all.

I shook my head as if I didn't have an answer, he should be in sector 5 in the care of Aerith but I had no way to prove that. I didn't have the premonition that Aerith did and had no way to explain myself. The planet told me? Please, like I would ever be caught using that excuse.

"No idea. Just that he was seen recently." She perked up a bit at that. I continued on. "The question is what are we going to do now? I'm wanting to join AVALANCHE since I'm wanted by everyone in the city it seems." I wasn't going to mention that I technically could go back to sector 5 and live a simple life there, but that wouldn't let me work towards my plans of surviving the pending apocalypse. It's just that I didn't know if the Turks or Shinra would come for me like they did Aerith. Better to be on the side of caution.

"Do you even hate Shinra kid?" Barret asked. A brief flash of my time in the vat and I knew without a doubt that yes, I hated them. I would hate any organization that allowed experiments like that to happen. It would be different if humans were nearing extinction and weapons/experiments were needed to survive. Because the Wutai war ended and we were in a time peace, yet they still allowed the experiments to go on. Who knew how many more were out there. There could be people like me out ther. It was a cold and intense hatred now. They made it personal with my waking up. The kind of personal where you don't question going for your revenge. The kind that makes you push yourself that much harder just thinking about it. They made a mistake bringing me back. It would've been better for them to keep me in oblivion and dead. Nothing is more driven than a spiteful person.

"Yes." Raw anger leaked out of my voice and I saw Barret's eyebrows rise in response. The others had questioning looks. I wouldn't say more, it was too much and too painful to talk about. I didn't think that I would be anywhere near calm if I turned my mind to it. Mako started to circulate and I could feel it agitated beneath my skin. It wouldn't do to get worked up. I took a breath to calm myself. Another to center myself. One last one to focus. A beat later and the prickling sensation went away.

"Fine." He spits out, obviously displeased but for some reason relenting. "Seems we just let whoever the hell wants in nowadays. You ain't getting paid with how much trouble you are. You hear? Now everyone back to the bar, been away from Marleen long enough. Don't want to be caught with our pants down like Shinra. New kid, you're with me." Barret ordered then took off. Everyone shared a look, probably not sure what to make of what happened. I wasn't expecting him to be so understanding and not pry, then again he had his own history with Shinra.

I wasn't sure what he planned to do with the information I gave him, but he posted Biggs to camp out in front of the sector plate and kept me close on our walk back. The youth loudly complained but as we walked past an intersection he branched off from the group, presumably to the fenced entrance depicted in the game to check on it. They were taking Shinra's plan to kill them in stride and seemed confident that they could stop it. I wasn't so sure, they were too confident that Shinra wouldn't directly attack it and would blame the incoming sabotage on them. Jessie claimed she had hacked into the security in the sector which allowed her to view the robotic guards orders and could broadcast the attack if it happened. No wonder they were so keen to get rid of them if the entire security of the sector, including the plate above, was compromised. She was probably the reason such a drastic action was being taken honestly. Each plate at least had separate security systems relating back to when each acted as a small town independent of each other. But if one was hacked, the others could be too. It prevented the collapse of the entire city in the case of defenses being breached just like now. EIther that or the people who founded the city were a paranoid bunch. It's something I would do in their shoes.

The walk was boring, I was expecting monsters to jump out at every bend and turn, but nothing happened. Travelers would nod when they passed by, as this was a recognisable bunch. No sign of fear at all from them. They warned a couple people to move out of the sector, but it was more of a friendly heads-up something might happen warning. I was the one that got odd looks, not the man with a gun arm telling people to leave. The camp came up unexpectedly, by this point I was thoroughly lost with all the branchings. Most of the sector housing was built along the Shinra rail system. I couldn't see it, but I could hear the shrill sounds of trains leaving the station blaring their horns and the scream of the engine. The camp entrance was just a crude drop gate that seemed almost rusted over and was built near the main station. Much different than the out of place camp of sector 5 that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

If I thought that the outskirts of sector 7 was nice, then the camp we came upon was lucrative. It reminded me of downtown areas in a nice city back from my old world. It was well lit and the housing was nice, if old. People were sitting outside on porches in beat up houses. Where before it seemed relaxing, here it was peaceful. Older folks watching younger kids play peaceful. They were playing with actual toys and balls, and not monsters. People were armed of course, but they didn't have the hardened features and tight grips on worn weapons like in sector 5. Teenagers were grouped together, practicing with weapons, but with smiles on their faces and not the hollow gaze and haggard smiles I was used too. Smiles of joy and friendship, not smiles of surviving a rough day. There was a staccato of gunfire that was coming from the only three story building, probably the firing range inside of it. Weird place to put it honestly. Where Wall Market was too jarring to appreciate what was there, here, I was painfully reminded of what was lost. If you squinted and looked at it from the right point you could almost believe that you weren't on a strange and alien world.

"Everyone, GET the HELL OUTTA HERE!" Barret goes charging towards the bar with a grin and fires off his gun several times into the air. It was almost comical watching people scramble out. People were vaulting over the railing and down the steps to get down and away from him with practiced ease, almost as if it was a common occurrence. It probably was with how easily the group was found. Barret isn't known for being subtle or quiet. The rest of us made our way inside pushing past the forming crowd, yeah, definitely not subtle. I'm surprised with the ease that they accepted me, people around camp were giving me glares, even with my goggles lifted to the top of my head. I figured the group would want to do a background check or anything to see if they could trust me. I was sure something would come up soon.

I pushed my way past the saloon doors and was pleasantly surprised to see a western styled bar. Synthetic wood bar, tables, and stools all gave it a feeling that you just didn't get in the metal based slums. There was a squawk and the pattering of feet, and suddenly Barret was swinging his 'daughter' around in the air. "Papa! You're back!" she squealed from the air with her father laughing. She was a tiny thing, with light brown hair and looked nothing like him. She was cute in the way little kids were. "Stop your whiskers hurt!" She said while laughing

"What's everybody doing back so sooooo- Who is that?" Tifa stands in front of me in all her amazing non-polygon glory. Long black hair, suspenders, short black skirt, and red leather combat boots/gloves combo she somehow makes sexy. They all only served to accentuate her well endowed figure. It was hard to maintain eye contact. She was staring levelly at me while waiting for anybody but me to supply an answer. It was unnerving being the focus of such intense scrutiny.

Barret pauses and sets his daughter down on his shoulder, his shoulders were actually thick and wide enough to do that, turning towards her. "Says his name is Vice and he took down the Don, he's going to be joining up. Gonna be spikeys problem" Wait, what was that?

"Cloud? Is he okay?" She turns to me and I give a short nod. I was going to be his problem? Yeah, not going to happen. I took the moment to speak up.

"The Don was affiliated with Shinra and was helping them look around the slums for AVALANCHE. You don't have to worry about them now, but Shinra knows where you guys are. Said something about seeing your friend. Not much else." I vaguely replied. I at least knew that much was true. He was probably hiring mooks and thugs to scout out the sectors while looking for a 'wife'. I sincerely hoped that he didn't plan on using them and when he wasn't interested anymore the unlucky girls would 'run off' somewhere. Most likely to Alps lair. I shuddered at the awful thought, now doubly glad his mansion was destroyed.

"Oh...well it's nice to meet you...Vice?"

* * *

There was no way that getting into their folds should of been this easy. Things just didn't work that way. Some relative unknown comes in and wants to be part of the group? Okay suspicious but believable. On top of that they get rid of one of Shinra's puppets? Too convenient to be true. Who knows, maybe Barret is a much better person than I initially took him for and trusts my dislike for Shinra. There was just a few other questions asked, but i'm not the best at keeping conversations going and it died promptly. They had everything they needed and there wasn't much I really knew. They didn't seem sure what to do with me, so they let me get acclimated around the sector. Pretty much let me do whatever I wanted. They didn't have much else for me to do and weren't worried about me betraying them. That would cost them when Cait Sith joined their party. I take a deep breath and step off the porch of the bar. I get some curious looks as I make my way through the camp. Its fairly small, maybe several blocks big, and nothing is placed exactly like it was in the game. It seems more like someone explained what it looks like and designed it from there, totally unlike the sector 5 camp. Sure there is the three story tower and other key buildings, but they aren't in the same locations. You can see a lot of the camp from the bar, as it's situated in the middle of everything, but odd angles and placement of houses make it seem much bigger than it really is. I have the free time to wander around and relax. I'm not tense in this situation at all and it is such a relief and a nice change of pace. Nobody moves their hands towards weapons, sure I got glares, but that was much easier to take than a gun pointed towards me. It might of had a lot to do with Tifa's advice to leave the gun inside the bar that lessened the general air of hostility directed towards me, but I was still armed with my knives. I had gotten so used to always being geared for combat it didn't even occur to me to just….not be.

Aside from the three staples, I managed to find a tailor shop in my wandering. I didn't just go barging into houses, this wasn't a game and that's how you get shot, but I peered into open doorways or looked for signs hinting towards what was inside. That's how I found the store, and it was owned by an old man (who didn't smell like liquor!) who was kind enough to help me know what I needed just from a glance when I walked in. He seemed almost disgusted at the state of my clothes, like it was a personal insult to his profession, and promptly got me undressed. It was nothing like the clothes shop in Wall Market but it allowed me to patch up the uniform instead of just wearing it in its damaged state for a low price. There was also a cheap strap pouch that caught my eye. It was small and circular, and perfect for my thigh. The zipper on it makes it unusable in battle, but it was perfect to keep gil inside of. From both seeking fingers and jostling it would keep it secure. I was honestly just getting tired of having to sift through my collection of potions and medicine in my knapsack just to pay for anything. Pockets were too easy to steal from for my taste, especially with steal materia out there. Maybe once outside the city I would use my pockets to store food and such, but for now almost everything was kept in my knapsack and zealously guarded.

I'm finding it ironic that I'm starting to finally feel prepared for a journey when I still don't own any offensive materia and I'm low on funds. A trip to the materia store should change that. It was almost lights out and I've had enough with exploring the small camp. There wasn't much else that I needed. I was stocked up on ammo, and while I could buy another armband I wasn't sure my funds could support it after purchasing the materia.

Once inside the 'store' I was greeted by an orange skinned bald man behind a rusty counter. The store was more of a shack and pretty damn rundown if the rust on the metal sheet walls was any indication. He looked up and his face lit up with surprise.

"Oh! Look at this! Another customer, two in one day nonetheless! Yes! Buy anything you'd like!" He gestured towards a display case installed inside the counter. The prices were still 1000 gil for fire, ice, and lighting. Restore was 2000 and definitely out of my price range. I had a sudden urge to take it, this place might be gone by tomorrow, but squashed it down. There would be plenty of opportunities to earn money and keep in people's good graces. I didn't need the materia is what I told myself. I didn't want a mob after me, I was dealing with enough already. I sold the cover that I picked up after the Scotch fight along with several speed potions, I really needed to wean off the stuff. The money barely covered the cost for lightning. I still had a little bit of gil left over. I was eager to try it out, but not to the point to do it in public. There was perhaps another hour of light from the plate above and I'd make use of it getting ready for tomorrow. I hadn't been asked to join the fight that I know would take place but I wasn't worried. I was feeling refreshed taking it easy for most of the day. I was too used to throwing myself into sector 6 day after day and this break from action was nice. With that resolved I made my way back to 7th heaven, as there was a private area behind the bar I could try the materia in.

I wasn't expecting it to be occupied.

Tifa was practicing with several wooden post, forming a loose circle in which she situated herself in the middle of, attacking randomly. It was mesmerizing, watching her perform, I'll be the first to admit my style was crude compared to hers. She seemed to use her momentum from pivots and twists to add power behind her kicks and punches. There was force behind every move she made and could turn nearly every movement into an attack or block. Whereas mine was all about creating an opening and taking brutal advantage of it while dodging. There is a major difference between creating an opening through feints or probing attacks and beating someone until there is one. Many would see my way as cowardly, but I didn't have the strength, skill, or confidence to take things on in a pitted fight. Finding the most efficient and fastest way to kill monsters doesn't compare to what I was seeing. You don't learn a whole lot when fights are brutal and quick, doubly so if you catch your opponents off guard.

By now Tifa had finished going through her routine which I walked in the middle of, working up a sweat and slightly out of breath. She turned to me and put a hand on her hip. "Can I help you?" I blinked, slightly put off and realizing I had been standing there watching her. Hopefully I wasn't drooling. "Yeah, can I practice here? I've got some new hardware-" I hold up the green materia and give it a little shake. "that I'd like to try out." I truly couldn't wait to try it out. Lightning! Harness one of the most destructive forces of nature easily! Be my own personal battery! The possibilities were endless. A grin crawled onto my face, I wanted this.

"I don't see why not, but you better know I'm not putting on a show for you." That instantly put thoughts into my head, and I idly wondered how she fought without having back problems, then chalked it up to mako being bullshit.

Taking that as an answer I sat down and focused on the green orb held in front of me. I was downright giddy to finally own something destructive and could break conventional laws with ease. Or at least my conventional laws. Just like with ice and the 'pie' fire, I slowly channeled mako into it and focused on a point. A tiny, nearly imperceptible, stream of mako shot out and latched onto the point, then...just fizzled in the air. The spell failed? It was barely several sparks that formed! This is interesting, was it some backlash that I didn't know about? I can easily tell when I'm tired from using spells because my mako is sluggish to respond, but there was none of that. I thought about it for a few minutes, then tried several more times to the same result. There was frustration getting pent up. Damn it, this was supposed to be a relaxing day, not getting worked up because I couldn't figure this out. I channeled a huge surge of mako into it, forcing me to concentrate on it for several seconds, then pushed it through the materia, It felt like forcing more water into an already full sponge. Tifa looked up at the sudden change just as I saw the line whip out.

CCRRraaccCCK.

A single, small bolt made it's way into existence. It was pathetic and I could probably of gotten more out of jumper cables, or done more damage just beating them with a pair. It looked like it would barely stun somebody. I hear giggling and turned to the source. Tifa has a grin on her face. "Having performance issues?" She winked and put on her best coy face. I turned away from her and opted to fiddle with the materia in my hands. I'm not one to get riled up easily. Was the materia defective? I tried firing the spell different ways. Feeding the materia a slow stream of mako, building it up in my body then forcing it into the orb, aiming at metallic objects, it all made no difference. There were varying degrees of failure and success, much like the kids who didn't know how to control their mako flow, but I could clearly sense the flow. I got up from sitting down, very frustrated about this. I brushed my sweaty black hair from my face. This is the first thing that stumps me in the world? Everything else has been so straightforward so why couldn't this be? Tifa glanced up at my change of stance and I did something I never thought I would of.

I asked for help from someone I had just met.

Tifa shook her head in the negative immediately. What? That doesn't make sense. She could use them in the game. Whats going on here? Almost as if she had the premonition of Aerith she continued.

"I've never had a real reason to learn lots of materia other than what my teacher gave me." Wasn't it Zangan the martial artist? I didn't know a whole lot about him. "He taught me that if I couldn't win with my strength and martial arts alone, then I would never surpass him." She glanced towards a materia inserted into a small port on her thick leather gloves as if reminiscing, then slowly made a fist. What. I don't remember this at all. She shook her head and looked up with resolve. "I would never rely on materia for my fights." How...naive of her. Still, was she using this as an excuse to not flounder like I did? No, the look of determination in her eyes is too genuine. She turns fully to me, the talk about surpassing her teacher seems to have sparked a second wind. She glances down at my knife holsters greedily. "Are you any good with those?" Not liking where this was going I gulped, then slowly nodded.

"Let's spar!"

* * *

It was dark now. It's been a good bit since Tifa, the overwhelming victor, left abruptly. I laid out in the area behind the bar lost in my thoughts. After the spar, any notion I had of being prepared was shattered. I was easily trounced. Within the first few exchanges any worries I had of hurting her evaporated. In the game, her fighting style was punches and a few flashy moves. That could be translated as a well trained brawler, she did own a bar and was probably in quite a few at one point. The first time she pinned me disproved that notion. She was an expertly trained fighter in unarmed mako-enhanced combat no less. She was all about overpowering her opponent, be it strength, leverage, or position. Not only was she stronger than me, she was more flexible and able to evade attacks easier. I was slightly faster, taller, and more dextrous, but her experience trumped any advantage or opening I could of scrounged up somehow. She grew up fighting and learning under the tutelage of a world class fighter. I had been fighting for far less time and never really learned how to fight a person. It was humbling. Not only was she completely unphased when I utilized sense and cover in the middle of a combo, hoping to catch her off guard, she got excited. A punching bag that could dodge! Eventually I got too dizzy from performing rolls and twists to dodge her blows, sense screaming where it would land like contact with hot water but with me unable to avoid it. Our spar had gotten to the point where the little enclosure was much too small to realistically fight in. We were moving at dizzying speeds. Each of her enhanced footsteps sent cracks into the ground and all I could do was dodge, which was getting harder and harder. She called it off after the one and only strike landed and seemed embarrassed to have gotten so worked up. She left me wheezing on the ground. I was pretty sure she had cracked several ribs with one punch and maybe bruised some organs. Eventually I managed to sit up and reviewed what I had learned from the spar.

It seemed intention had a big part of interacting with sense, but how it could detect it over distance wasn't clear. She would broadcast her strikes, forgoing subtlety for speed. The more power she put into them the easier they were to detect. Much like intention had a role with which areas cover...well, covers. If sense or cover weren't focused then it would try to affect as much as it could. It almost seemed...crude. It was much more useful and mako efficient to focus them but hard to get a handle of processing the information. It was interesting learning the parameters of my materia, or as I dubbed it, 'intuiting intention' of the things around. It was very difficult to use in combat, but being able to know where blows would land and then cover those areas was absolutely invaluable. The control with materia goes up the more you get used to using it. I had gotten pretty proficient with using sense and cover. I've come a long way from locking up large portions of my bodies and could effectively avoid large joints such as elbows and knees. Anything that required fine manipulation was beyond me...for now. The spine was tricky and I personally took more to covering the skin. It was much easier and simple. Sense was also tricky. I wasn't really sure how it sensed things at a distance but it did. It also provided hyperfocus on one thing, making it ridiculously easy to tell where opponents were aiming. If sense was unfocused it would just...sense where things are. I almost always reflexively focused sense to the point where I had to focus on not focusing it. They were both a lot more helpful than I initially thought they were going to be. I wanted to see if there was anything else that would pleasantly surprise me. My spar did not.

I was a person. I was prideful of how much work I had been putting into learning how to fight my own way, by myself. It truly left me feeling unprepared losing so soundly even with all I learned by putting myself in dangerous situations. The best way to learn to fight is to do it after all. I had thought that I could measure up at least a little with the introduction of materia into the fight, but no. Maybe if I took combat enhancers I could've started landing meaningful blows and bypassing her expertly timed blocks, but that was a bit excessive for a friendly spar. The lighting materia conundrum left me a lot more unsure about myself and my odds of survival. I could always go back and exchange it for a different one, but that would be giving up. This wasn't a game. I can't just walk away from it. If I didn't learn this it literally might be the death of me. What would I do if the next problem faced was a lot more deadly? If there was something I knew I could feasibly do, I would do it.

I was also worried about the upcoming fight and what I could bring to it. The enemies that are at the sector pillar are flying guards, not much my knives could do to them. I had a gun, but I haven't even fired the thing yet. Putting one bullet into a corpse doesn't count as practice. Maybe I should of went into the firing range with my spare time, but materia and testing my combat skill was just so much more interesting. I was a firm believer of not trying new things in combat. Ever. It was dangerous and stupid. I spent countless hours practicing with my daggers before I used them and would do the same with the gun. If only I could do that with limit breaks I would feel much more comfortable with them. I'm still getting used to just carrying the guns weight around and coming to terms that I own one now.

I held a sliver of hope that AVALANCHE might handle things at the pillar by themselves. Before, I thought that if I could fight enemies in sector 6 I might just be able to catch up to their level of combat. That was now firmly rejected. I had just gotten used to fighting those enemy types. Now it seems where I fit into things is in question. Problem. A simple spar left me feeling unprepared. I could contribute very little to the fight without working materia. Solution. Sector 5. I was still owed materia for teaching the kids and needed to report about Rilo. That would help immensely. Maybe I would even get paid. It wasn't very clear when I was told to do it.

With that in mind I make my way into the bar mentally ready to set out.

I was met with the sight of Marleen standing behind the bar cleaning dishes. How did Tifa and Barret got her to help out with chores on her own volition no less? Probably bribes. It's what I would of done. I could hear muffled voices coming from underneath the floorboards. They must be in the secret headquarters underneath the bar and I shot a look over at the pinball machine that would take me there. I sigh, not wanting to wait for them to finish, but not really knowing how to go about getting their attention. Knowing about the headquarters would just raise questions. Marleen looks up at the noise, and I let her know that I would be back in the morning, to which she replied with a startled little squeak of being addressed and a small nod. Confident that she would tell her father when he got out of the meeting, I set about collecting my things that I left in here and packing things.

I wanted to head back as soon as I could, the fight would be tomorrow and if I rushed I could be back, back before anything happened, armed with something dangerous. While it may be a bit abrupt leaving, I was sure that they could at least handle themselves until Cloud showed up. Wait, Cloud would make it before the attack. He wouldn't have to deal with anything in the Don's mansion, essentially no side quest. He should be spending tonight at Aerith's and then make his way here early in the morning. There really wasn't anything that was a threat to the enhanced warrior in the slums. I now had everything I left in the bar ready to head out. I checked to make sure my gun was strapped securely to my back, my knapsack was packed, my gil pouch was on my thigh, and then set off into the night. For one brief second I reconsidered, then squelched the thought. It wouldn't do to second guess myself here. AVALANCHE is made up of better fighters than me. They didn't ask me to fight what they considered their battles. So I wouldn't.

* * *

With a feeling of trepidation I turn to look behind me at the sector 7 camp, which was quickly becoming smaller and smaller. It was just a dark blur, as it was night, but the feeling of unease seemed to grow. The sector pillar could be seen, several lights were strung up at the top, seemingly taunting me. Were they there before? I didn't think so, so it must be something AVALANCHE did. My first hitch was the sector gates, which were securely closed...but unguarded? Right, keep the sector filled with dangerous monsters firmly locked out but don't guard it. I didn't have a ready plan for this, and figured just poking around in the little booth beside the gate would have to do. If not then it would be significantly harder, if not impossible until tomorrow, to figure out a different way. A mako powered kick broke the lock and I was in. The keys were left in the control room? This was weird, this place should be guarded and alarms going off. The trepidation only got worse and set the mako in my body to circulating faster and a tingle to set in. Mako was very closely linked to the body. I hit several switches that looked the most important, and was rewarded with the sound of grinding metal after one was flipped. Not wanting to have any monsters wandering in, I waited a beat, flipped it back, then slipped through the closing gate.

I was met with the sight of darkness, barely able to make out the neko-playground in the distance, the one that I cleared what seemed like ages ago but was in reality days. The gate shut behind me and I set off. Though it had happened a few times, I hated being in the pitch black of the sector. It was too nerve racking, all senses stretched taut, ready to react to the first sign of danger. At the very least mako can be directed towards the eyes to enhance night vision but trying to adapt to this level of darkness leads only to a few feet of clear vision and a buzzing headache. Before, when I was in the sector at night for whatever reason it was mainly luck that allowed me to find a landmark and adjust from there. Starting from the place that I had been making my way towards would make this trip much easier. That there was a recent monster culling only that much more so. There was very little sign of the chaos that happened the other day aside from a few scraps of the guards laying around, and no sign of the large swarms that were usually present.

There was nothing amiss and I thought it was going to be an easy stroll to sector 5. I shouldn't of thought that. Things just don't seem to go my way if I don't plan for every little thing. Including the impossible. In the distance there was a light silhouetting a person. Just looking at them made me nervous.

I was shocked that there was somebody as crazy as I was to go into the sector at night. There was an orb beside the person that emitted a bright light. It not only provided clear light, but it actively scared off monsters from approaching it's radius. That's actually really neat. I was almost tempted to go and ask him, because it was definitely a him, where he got that. Was it materia? Technology? I wanted to know. I had never seen anything like that before, including the game. I was debating on if I should go or not until I clearly saw the black suit and glasses combo when he trekked closer to the point where I could make out details. Turk. Red hair and goggles. Reno. Was he making his way to sector 7? That would make sense with the missing security forces and the attack coming up. Best to let him be and sneak by. What were the odds of seeing him like this, in the middle of the slums?

I took off at a light jog, grabbing hold onto a small pile of trash and hauling myself onto the ridgeline away from the small path. A quick hop to a bigger pile and I latch onto the side. Digging in and making footholds until I scramble up and found my footing at the top. One benefit of it being night is that it's much harder to be spotted. Wait, can demons see in the dark? The last thing I wanted was a hell house chasing after me. Do they even sleep? I was suddenly much less sure of this and opted to prone and wait. I needed more information on monsters than what was in the game. Maybe they would have something at the mercenary guild. I remember hearing something about them keeping track of monsters a little while ago.

I watched the orb float behind Reno as he made his way forward. Several whole eaters trail behind him and hiss at the light, but he seems to be paying more attention to his phone. That's brazen to blatantly ignore monsters like that and expose your back. It incites them even more. He walked past my position, and my eyes followed the slight bobbing of the the light as it faded off in the distance. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. Good, now hopefully Jakayo's father wouldn't be too upset about being woken up when I got back to camp. If I stuck to the high ground I could make good time as long as I moved slowly and stayed low, I'm much faster than a house and...something felt off, the faintest feeling of paranoia coming from sense. I looked around with a feeling of dread, then spot the light wobbling in the distance. Making it's way back. Fuck, there is no way this is happening. I knew for some reason that he was after me. There was no rational explanation for it. I just knew.

I took off at a brisk jog, staying low and on top of the trash heaps and debris.

Adrenalin started to pump through my system. I didn't like this. I reached over my head and into my knapsack and fiddled with a speed potion, then thought against it. I wasn't up against a wall. I could lose him in the maze of rubble. It would be a bitch to find my way back, but I didn't think he just wanted to talk. It would be worth it. There seemed to be even more debris since both of the bombs went off and the extermination happened. I was darting from obstruction to obstruction, getting myself lost in the process, but out of the line of sight. Every time I thought I lost the Turk I would see the light slowly creep nearer to me. I would see it around a bend, over a small pile of trash, I couldn't seem to get away from it. It was a twisted game of cat and mouse that went on for far too long. He was a professional and didn't have to worry about the swarm of monsters he was agitating. Would he put off his mission to sabotage the pillar for me? Aerith was going to be captured, so why wouldn't I be? Something screamed at me to get away, anyway that I could. As fast as possible. My heartbeat picked up.

I was done with trying to lose him, it didn't seem to be working. The chase had gone on for quite some time. It was getting too dangerous with the large amount of monsters getting pissed off. I would at least get help fighting him in sector 5 from the people who lived there hopefully. I was sorely tempted to take another speed potion, but held off. It wouldn't make anything other than my focus sharper and reflexes faster. I needed to think about my health and repercussions of taking too much and the long term. I didn't need to out-think him, just out-run. I suddenly remembered that he had a materia that could capture me. Pyramid. It couldn't be broken out of without the help of others. I was alone. An easy target.

I took off at a dead sprint. Panic setting in.

Adrenaline and mako blended together inside my body and enhanced my speed, pushing me even further faster. It was like going down the highway with no headlights. Things would pop up in front of me and I would have to twist out of the way or jump over them. I was rushing headlong in the darkness, hopping and sprinting wildly. Scrambling when I lost my footing. Eyes and legs stinging from the mako agitation. This seemed to stretch on for long minutes and I got myself thoroughly lost. It might even take me hours to find my way back now. We had been darting back and forth in the rubble for a long time. Possibly several hours. My foot shifted, and I found myself tumbling headfirst. There was a splash and then burning set in everywhere and I was underwater. I scrambled, my feet found purchase and I stood up gasping for air. The burning was still happening below my waist. I couldn't seem to get enough air and started to hyperventilate. Some small dark form croaked then lunged at my face. I lashed out, pulling my knife out in a blur, stabbing it. With a wet plop it disappeared...beneath the surface. Several croaks resounded, then with a bright flash I felt something akin to hot coffee splash across my face accompanied by the sound of fire igniting. Thankfully it was my lower face and didn't injure my eyes. I wildly look from side to side trying to find where the attack came from, my hair sticking to my head. There was another flare beside my head and I could see where I...was...oh, this isn't good.

Of course I would fall into the biggest god damn mako pool I ever came across! Of fucking course! How have these little shitty things not been hunted out of the sector? It was about as big as a swimming pool and pissed off hedgehog pies were lined around the edges. It was diluted mako, sure, but the dozens of 'pies' didn't seem to care at all. They cared about me, the sudden intruder. There were plops when they jumped in, and suddenly I was fighting for my life. I couldn't bring the gun to bear or reach into my backpack for grenades so I pulled out my other knife. Spikes seemed to stab me from all sides, brief flares of fire sprung up into existance around me scorching me all over, they started to gnaw on me. I wished for respite as I peel off two doing their best to claw out my eyes. Cover mitigating a lot of the damage, but I couldn't lock up my entire body, I would be a sitting duck then, they were still doing plenty of damage to me. Each 'pie' was about the size of a football, if not a little bigger, just a lot more spiky and apparently they could swim. They would sink to the bottom then push off the ground to launch themselves at me. I needed to drink something in my backpack, anything. Potion, drugs, water. Anything. I grabbed hold of one and overrode the materia inside of it, mako sluggish but still managing to fire off a spell, not aiming, trying to scare them off. A massive, blinding flare encompassed the area, giving me the respite I needed. I blindly reached into my backpack and drank a...potion. I could feel it's effects coursing through me and repairing wounds. As my vision came back I looked around for enemies but was only looking at an empty pool. Where did all the enemies go?

"Bit late to go for a swim isn't it? Is that what you rushed over here for? C'mon yo, let's have a talk, you and me." Reno smirked from the bank of the pond with the light behind him and casting long shadows. The light wasn't an overrode spell, but Reno's own monster repelling light. I looked around but there was little maneuverability or options to move when waist deep in mako. I had tripped myself into this trap. Still, with wild eyes I looked for a way out, eyes darting all over the place, any way out. I saw nothing. I felt my chest tighten in fear.

"Awww c'mon don't be like that, I'm not the bad guy here. I was just trying to help." Lies. I threw a dagger at him and dashed off to the opposite bank, only to feel intense pain as electricity surged around me, sparks dancing on the surface. It lasted for several seconds then ended leaving me panting and slightly hunched over in the water.

"Hey now, none of that. I've got to keep my face pretty." Reno says with a cool smile as he extracts his rod from the pool. I was panting, still couldn't fully catch my breath, things were starting to get fuzzy. His face turns serious as he looks at the state i'm in. "Enough playing around. You're coming back with me. Augment: Pyramid."

A blinding flare. Something inside of me twisted. Even tighter than the last time this happened. Apparently I really was sitting on a limit break. The spell seemed to slow in the air. Pyramid. It would trap me. It would trap me. No. I push myself as hard as I can, then harder, enhancing everything. So much I start to glow, mako bleeding out and getting reabsorbed. Everything starts to burn but it quickly fades to the back of my mind. My eyes widen, then dilate. I felt calm and a strange clarity settle over me. An unnatural feeling.

"Why don't you make me!" I scream at Reno, mako spiking towards my vocal cords and throat. The volume was deafening and sounded alien to my ears. Anger was bleeding into my voice. He winces at the volume of it as if in slow motion. No. In slow motion. Time has gotten strange and was undulating infrequently that I associated with limit breaks. A blink, the magic hanging suspended in air. Another blink and I'm engulfed in a strange pyramid. Half a blink later realization sets in. Trapped. My already wildly beating heart seems to still much like how a hummingbird can hang suspended in air. The mako whipping around my body in some super sayian knockoff starts lashing off of my skin striking at my prison. The calm is still at the forefront of my mind, but I can feel the panic right behind it waiting to take it's place. I was detachedly watching the strange acting mako seemingly have a mind of it's own whip out in a tentacle fashion. Especially since they blur with the different perception of time. It makes it almost seem in still shots of what's playing out. The spell construct just rattles heavily from the by product of the limit break. It's not giving. The twist inside of me tightens. I need out. Whatever means necessary. In a daze I make a strange gesture that feels familiar. All the mako trapped with me in the pyramid burns up instantly, but more floods in. I slam my hand into it, once, twice, then three times. The pyramid is vibrating with the force of my blows like a struck gong. Nothing. Mako is still bleeding from me for what felt like a small eternity. Everything burned with a liquid fire coursing through me that both invigorated and consumed me. It was like living and dying with every breath. Like becoming a god. Mako is pouring into the pyramid from small holes that appeared in it.

Wait, that's not quite right.

I look up through clouded eyes at the mako surging towards me. Dimly I process the sight. The bank had receded and reached up and piled on top of itself. The mako was pulling itself towards me. There was a point where something inside of me seemed to snap into place. Everything was still swirling around and curling in on itself. Almost like a whirlpool. I had burned up a good amount of mako effectively creating a dry patch inside and around the pyramid. A blink. Water droplets hung in the air. Almost paying it no attention I reached into the strange new part inside of me and reached out through the pyramid and onto the tiny, nearly imperceptible stream connecting it to the materia. I followed it's path to its caster. Reno looked rough from what I could piece together in fragmented shots. Razor thin droplets had cut into and through him, absolutely shredding his suit. I didn't feel sorry for him. With some strange feeling and sense of purpose I tugged on the line and something seemed to just...give in him. I could tell the moment it happened watching the events unfold slowly around me. He was out like a switch had been flipped. I blinked, and droplets started falling stinging where they hit, time returning to it's usual speed. I blinked again, readjusting to the change, and shivered. I was feeling physically and mentally tired. The mako against my skin felt almost...drained. It didn't seem to hurt as much as before.

Mako was pooling on the ground again and Reno was laying face first in it. I couldn't have him dying and struggled to drag his body out. The spell construct had fizzled out with it's caster hopefully unconscious. A quick check of his pulse showed he was still alive thankfully. I kicked his high-tech weapon away and sat by the Turk for several minutes to see if he was truly out and not faking it. He didn't react at all when I rifled through his pockets and took the gil and ether he was carrying. I was glad I didn't kill him. I had only wanted to get out and away and he was an integral part of the story and was just doing his job. I didn't anticipate that. Was that my limit break reacting to all of the mako around me? I was unnerved. I fiddled with his baton for a bit, but it must be keyed to just him because no buttons I pressed responded in any fashion. Then I put on his glasses and swore at what I saw. Perfect night vision. No green haze at all. There had been no point of my trying to hide from him in the dark. I was so angry I just crushed the glasses, not thinking about it at all. A beat later I was already regretting it. Those could've been mine.

I moved his body away from the mako pool into a small crevice, couldn't have monsters finding him and eating him, when something slipped out of a hidden pocket. It was a file with a picture on it. A picture of me inside the vat. Something inside of me seemed to freeze with the realization that I was truly being hunted. It's not a good feeling not understanding just what the fuck was going on. I sat there staring dumbly at it for who knows how long. Time was hard to keep track of when you were as tired as me. Also, I wasn't sure the effects from the limit break hadn't fully gone away, it was hard to tell with no way to track time. I had thought things returned to normal, but maybe not. Eventually I snapped out of it and picked up the innocent looking file. I was feeling unsettled about the prospect of me having a file in the first place. I opened it up, only to realize that I couldn't read it. I cursed myself for not learning how and tucked it away scowling. I applied some medicine to the unconscious Reno, sealed up the small crevice so nothing would easily get to him, and started the process of finding a familiar landmark. It was going to take time to find my way to sector 5. The lights above turned on just as I was leaving him, so much for getting back in time. Hopefully the group would understand that I had my own things to deal with and didn't think I betrayed them.

It wasn't too difficult to find something familiar, it was just an extremely long walk. I wasn't bone weary like I had been after taking so much damage at the Don's mansion. If anything I just felt drained and had trouble paying attention to things. As I came within sight of the familiar sector 6 entrance I turned to verify that there was no Turk following me. I turned just in time to see a piece of the sky I had gotten so used to tear itself from the sky with an ear splitting explosion. A second later the shockwave hit and I stumbled after being hit with dirt and small debris. As I picked myself up my blood ran cold and seemed to freeze inside my veins. AVALANCHE had failed. Reno hadn't been there, they had known about it, they had time to prepare, Cloud should've been there, and yet they still failed. Strangely I wasn't too upset with the loss of thousands of lives from the people both above and below the plate.

I was mesmerized and happy to get my first glimpse of the sky that was now visible.


	10. Chapter 8- Delayed Deal

I trudge the last stretch to sector 5 in a conflicted mood. On one hand, nothing drastic changed. On the other, my attempts to change things had failed. It's always disheartening watching your efforts crash and burn to the ground. In this case literally. The entrance nearing too soon and garnering my attention. Once again it seemed like an anthill had been kicked with people running in and out of the camp. Several were moving fast enough to almost blur. All commotion stopped when I neared. It was eerie having dozens of eyes tracking my each and every move. I felt like a deer in headlights stopping like I did. There was mummering and several people brought guns to bear and stared me down. I peeled the goggles off my face and some of them must've recognized me. They gave me questioning looks about my change in attire but called the others off. Thankfully nobody thought I would make good target practice to scare me away. It had happened several times to stave off the boredom of guard duty with several monsters and one hilarious case of a junkie wandering too close. Before I fully reached the gate Rilo's father blurred in front of me with the signs of enhanced movements. His gold chain and black hair swung wildly and I wondered if it could give him a black eye if he moved fast enough. It couldn't be safe wearing loose things when moving at high speeds. He had to of at least been going 20 or 30 mph. The superhuman feat wasn't even considered that unnatural.

"Vice! Good to see you made it back! You look rough as hell. Quickly, come inside the camp and we'll get some food in you." I just numbly nodded. He seemed like he could get things done and be relied upon. Unlike Barret and the group. Even with the warning, even with Reno gone, fate still played out somehow. If I was more superstitious I would think that the world was trying to reject me, but that's a preposterous idea. That couldn't be the case...Right? I was led to the clinic while the Old Man and Rilo's dad talked. I still hadn't figured out his name, it was kind of rude to just call somebody a generic name like Rilo's dad but it was never really brought up. The Old Man deserves his title, I had to suffer through alcohol fueled rants and ramblings. There were times where I had to take care of him more than me. A quick checkup was done on me and I was assigned some medicine which I promptly took. Food was put in front of me and I mechanically ate thinking about what the hell could've happened. There was no internet or non-Shinra news to find out the details of what went down. I was thinking about the possibilities when I was dragged from my thoughts in a change of pace with the two's conversation.

"-you think he's in shock?" Rilo's dad saying something.

"No sir, he gets like this from time to time. Strangest thing really, it's almost like he's in his own little world." Answer by the old man.

Upon realizing that they were just talking about me and not something important I just grunt and go back to eating. Something still seemed off and I look around, then notice a reason I came back standing in the corner of the room. Specifically Rilo. Rilo made it back? Good. That means no request to find him in the madness that was surely to be happening. I can't imagine how crazy Wall Market must be now, it was right beside the sector plate that fell and had no Don to police it currently. There was sure to be chaos and hysteria there. Now I just needed to get my materia, wait for AVALANCHE to show up, then go on the rescue mission of attacking Shinra HQ. Two of the things I hated most were going to happen now. Waiting and backtracking. Oh how sometimes I wished this was more like a game. I live in a world with game-like qualities instead of a game with real-world qualities. A night's rest would have me healed, no side effects from taking too much medicine, and best of all I wouldn't have to spend hours walking everywhere. Walking while tense, waiting for something to jump out at you, wasn't pleasant. I was dreading the time that would be needed to get from town to town outside of Midgar. The roads in between were ridden with monsters that would be privy to attacking in the night. If you count dirt paths as roads. I was hoping that there were no swarms outside like there was in sector 6. I would still prepare for them anyways.

Rilo seemed to notice that I finally saw him, and sent a glare at me as per usual. Hopefully he would get over himself soon. I wonder what he thought of my actions in the mansion and if anybody else knew about it. I wasn't in the best frame of mind then, still wasn't really. I would probably just relax today after the ordeal last night. Feeling uncomfortable I made to get up, and get my day started now that I could focus again. I hadn't slept last night, but I was still energized from the day before doing nothing. Lack of sleep wasn't that big of a deal. Sliding the chair back I was promptly pushed down by a hand with a surprising amount of force behind it.

"Whatever you were planning to do, it can wait. You should relax here, spend time with friends. Especially now, when it could've been us." I bristled at being told what to do and being held back. I don't say anything because of the hollow look in his eyes. Thats right, thousands of people had just died and they didn't have the foreknowledge that it wouldn't of been them. I put off feeling guilty or sorry and focused on what I came here for.

"I need to talk to Jakayo's dad about payment and get the materia I'm owed." I argued my case to leave and he seemed to think about it, then nodded.

"I'll pass on the message. Stay put." With that he made his way out. Wait, I didn't specify which one that I wanted. I didn't want to have another scenario with lightning.

"ICE!" I lamely call out. Hopefully he heard me. I was still frustrated about my materia problem. I'd ask around with the mercenaries and try to find out what I was doing wrong. Or maybe I would do it myself. It couldn't be that difficult to figure it out. I would just have to try again, I wasn't going to let this hitchup hold me back. I _knew_ it was possible.

I mused to myself about events to come, once again getting lost in my thoughts. AVALANCHE would be here in a few hours depending on the speed they moved through sector 6. What would I say to them? Sorry I wasn't there for the fight? They didn't explicitly ask for me there. Did Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge make it out? How did the pillar come down without Reno there? That I didn't know bothered me in a way I couldn't really explain. I had put just enough effort into stopping events to not raise suspicion. It wasn't enough. I was interrupted by Rilo shuffling closer. He looked unsure and apprehensive, then something crossed over his face and he looked directly at me with determination. I was curious at what he had to say. He wasn't really the type of person to start conversations just like me. In fact we had very rarely talked, maybe a few clipped words while passing each other in sector 6.

"Thank you." He weakly says. I was a bit stunned, I had thought for sure that he hated me. It seems like recently all I am is confused or surprised.

I thought about what I should say. Then decided best just to find out what he meant. "For what? I didn't do much at the mansion." I truly hadn't, he had gotten himself out of there and back home. I was the one that did all the fighting, but it was also my fault the fighting broke out. Granted, he did get himself into the mess in the first place.

"For giving me the opportunity to get out of there. I hadn't realized what they were like until it was too late. I didn't pay attention to what they were doing and just focused on my job like an idiot. It was wrong of me to get so focused, you were able to tell what they were _really_ like with just a glance and you _did_ something about it unlike me. I was honestly too scared to try leaving until you showed up and reminded me that I had somewhere to go and people to help me." He trails off with his voice getting quieter when admitting his faults.

It could've easily been me getting caught up in a gang.

That's something I could see myself doing. Finding a faster means to a goal and it doesn't turn out to be what I thought is something I was familiar with. Especially being too focused to realize that there is a problem. Focusing too much on trying to fix a problem can easily lead to creating another. I understand what he was feeling now. He was probably threatened to stay or keep quiet about the shady stuff that went down. No, he definitely was. I had an unfair advantage over him about knowing their motives before I even meet them.

"It's no problem, it would've happened sooner or later, those guys were fuckwits." He grimaces at the word and the memories associated with it. It's true, Cloud would of went in and cleaned the house. It was better that he was out of there away from the mansion, he could've been dead by now. Oh, that's what he was thanking me for indirectly. I saved his life without even realizing it. It seems my thoughtless actions had something unseen come from it.

There's no way he could've known that I was the cause of the Don's mansion blowing up. He just knew that something big had happened there and now it was gone, so he was thanking me for getting him out of there before the terrorist attack. Shinra helped me out by blaming it on AVALANCHE in this instance. There was a pregnant silence that filled the air after I accepted his grace. I was fine with it and wanted to see what he would say next. He opened his mouth once, then looked at the door as if expecting something. Of course that would be when it opened violently.

"Vice!." / "Rilo!"

Jakayo and Tessa looked at each other and something unspoken went on in between them. Then each went towards the one they called out to. I inwardly groaned when I saw Jakayo come over to me. Of course there would be no cute blue-haired girl to welcome me back. Just the spiky blue-haired brat. His blue eyes turned towards mine.

"Vice! Dad said to give you this." He holds out a green materia, just by holding it I can tell it's ice, which I then pocket. It looks like Rilo's dad heard me after all, even with how fast he moved. I still didn't understand how natural materia's disposition could be discerned with just a touch. I feel like I should be more excited now that I owned materia, but I am still wondering about what exactly could've happened at the pillar. "How did the fight go?" The blue haired brat asks.

I'm slightly taken aback. "What makes you think I fought?" I question back. He should know that I don't like answering things unless he shows he thought it out clearly. It bothered me when people just went about saying or doing the first thing on their mind. The lack of forethought can be aggravating. Especially when he would ask too many questions. He startles at my response and concentrates on providing an answer.

"There were lots of explosions! There's no way you wouldn't fight. Ummm, also look at you. You look like you've been in a big one." He points at me. More specifically at my once again ruined uniform with several cuts in it. Damn, I hadn't even realized. At least he's getting better about thinking on his feet.

"It was actually a really scary fight. You should've seen it." Rilo interjects from the other side of the table. Jakayo looks like a shark that just smelled blood. Kids are too crazy about fighting in this world. It must be mako making them more aggressive or the Shinra propaganda. I look over at the other two to shoot Rilo a glare. I pause when I see Tessa fawning over him, with him looking distinctly uncomfortable. Hey now! Don't just jump into conversations jsut because you can't take the attention of a cute girl! Man up and face your unfair reality! People would kill to be in your position and be fawned over by a natural blue haired girl. He notices my stoney expression, then gulps and continues. "In fact, Vice why don't you tell us all about it. It can't hurt to talk about." I scowl at him trying to put as much disdain into my expression as I can. They all know that I don't like to talk much about my fights. The pleading faces made me pause.

I had time to kill. While I would usually cut the conversation short and reject them I actually wanted to talk to people for once. I was a bit shaken from the brush with the Turk. I wanted to get my mind off thinking about things that can't be explained. My drive to _know_ was working against me here. It'd be nice to just relax after the ordeal I went through. Fuck, I had fought a Turk. If you count one-shotting him with a limit break a fight. Weird things happened. I deserved to take it easy. With that decided I faced the group.

"Fine. Not any of the good ones though. I hope you guys aren't squeamish." I relented.

I wasn't a good storyteller. I knew that stories of sneaking up on an enemy and slitting throats and puncturing vitals wasn't exciting. Just as the longsword was popular because of SOLDIER's, so was honor in this society because of the program. It wasn't honorable to sneak up and cripple your enemy before they have a chance to face you. Even if they were monsters. In fact if you can't face a monster in pitted combat then you aren't considered strong at all. It was weird and twisted logic, but it was ingrained into the culture.

But I would try for these friendly faces sitting around me. I would listen to Rilo's father about just spending time with friends. I truly did consider these kids to be them, only Jonni was missing. I have been focusing on myself recently but they were the ones who introduced me to the camp and spend time with me when I wasn't outside hunting monsters. Rilo was actually being friendly for once so the least I could do was the same. I mean one of the best parts about being in fights is the bragging rights you get walking away from them as the victor. They wouldn't know if I stretched them just a bit. A grin stretched across my face. They all perked up at what I said and leaned in closer, eager to hear what I had to say.

"So there I was, facing off against a dozen hell houses."

A trio of complaints immediately bombarded me.

It was nice to relax.

* * *

Sometime over the next hour there was a commotion outside the clinic. I paused in the middle of my story of how I found sense. It really did seem like forever ago. Jakayo darted off before anybody could say or do anything, slamming open the door and taking off running. I had an idea of what it was and started gathering my things getting ready to leave. A couple minutes later he came back looking excited slamming open the door once again. He was talking so fast I could barely understand him. I understood the gist of his rambling somehow. AVALANCHE had made its way here. It was time for me to leave. Strangely enough the siblings knew who Cloud was. They must of met him when Aerith brought him to her house. Just the fact that Aerith brought him here was enough to gain their trust. They didn't know that the group that came were the Midgar terrorist. No photos or videos of them have been released about AVALANCHE surprisingly.

I excused myself stiffly, the jealousy of Aerith's ease of handling social situations flaring, telling them that I had to go meet the new group and had business with them. With the grace of the one winged social butterfly that I am I inched towards the door under their stares. They all looked at me curiously and I could see the unspoken question. How did I know the strange group that made it's way here? I was out the door before they could begin to ask. I took off from the clinic angling towards Aerith's house where the party should be. I found it strange how many people considered the house to be Aerith's and not her mother's. Even the adults seemed to think that way.

When I went to the house with its flower laden field I heard Miss Gainsborough in the middle of her story. Specifically, the story about what Aerith _really_ was. A Cetra. Or Ancient depending on how you looked at it. Premonition and strange behaviors plagued her childhood growing up. She also had access to materia-less magic that focused on healing and support which was impossible for humans. Unless you count limit breaks? She had found Aerith and her dying mother at a train station and then took Aerith into her care when she died. I knew the culprit and captor to be Hojo doing experiments on them. I clenched my fist and turned away from the door. They had escaped from his clutches and went to hide in _Midgar_ of all places. The man had been the cause of so many problems plaguing the world. How Shinra still kept him employed was a mystery unto itself.

I didn't want to barge in the middle of this important conversation. This backstory explained a lot to the group and I was a bit too late to just jump in. I didn't mind. I honestly didn't feel the need to sit through what I was guessing to be a long story with questions asked about things I already knew. It was still late morning and I wondered how long this would take. I idly pulled out my new materia and played around with it. Creating ice from thin air and watching little particles of snow fall was such a surreal experience. I was doing magic! I _owned_ magic materia. I don't think I would ever get tired of finding out the limits to it. There was that excitement I should've been feeling! I ignored the problem materia in favor of utilizing this. I wondered briefly about if being near materia lowers my max hp like it does in the game. I turned the materia over and examined it. I couldn't feel any connection being created when I didn't use it. It didn't seem like it should be something I needed to worry about then. I was sitting there, hunched over my materia like some gremlin, when Aerith's mom opened up the door to let out the group of guest. Her eyes shot open in surprise when she saw me sitting there. I did an awkward little wave along with a sheepish smile then stood up.

"Oh! Vice it's you." She gives me a hollow smile upon realizing I wouldn't be spouting out 'my precious' anytime soon. She had just lost her child. Right. Be serious.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Aerith." I gave a light respectful bow. I hadn't caught on to the culture much, but I knew this at least. The deeper the bow the more respectful it is. I wasn't worried about Aerith. She wouldn't be harmed in Shinra's care and we were about to go liberate her. She might be a little shaken up with her experience in the care of Shinra but not much else.

"VICE? What's he doing here?" Barret shoulders his way out the door and Marlene has to duck her head atop his shoulder to avoid hitting it. She was giggling about her dad's lack of attention.

"I live here." I deadpan. The big man doesn't seem to know what to say to that.

Tifa and Cloud make their way out. My first thought on seeing the protagonist of the game was that he was shorter than me. The second thing was the hair was even more ridiculous in real life. He was my height if you counted his hair I guess. It was a yellow spiky mess and he had the signature nearly glowing, blue eyes of SOLDIER. He wore the soldier 1st class setup of a purple sleeveless shirt and brown pants/boots. He also had a massive buster sword strapped to his back. That thing had to weigh a ridiculous amount. The only way he could casually be carrying that around is because of the enhancements he got during his experimentation.

"Did you know Aerith?" Was the first thing that Cloud says to me. I was kind of at a loss of words.

"No...not really well." Was about all I could say. I was starstruck. Who wouldn't be. It would be like meeting Jesus in real life. You knew everything revolved around them even if they weren't aware of it.

"This is personal business with her. What're you doing listening in?" Alright, a bit rude but okay.

Did Barret and Tifa just not talk about me at all? It had only been a day but surely somebody joining the team would be news. Or did they just not consider me part of the team. That was worrying.

"I heard about what happened to her and I want to help AVALANCHE." I firmly state. I try to put as much conviction into my voice as I can, but it's hard thinking about their upcoming plan to stomp around in the HQ until they find Aerith. Idiocy. Relying on luck. I let out a shudder.

"Not much left of AVALANCHE anymore." Barret mumbles.

"Where are the others?" I had to know. Did my actions help out at all?

"Somewhere round camp." The big man replied casually. He was flexing his shoulders making Marlene bounce up and down happily. I wondered if he even _thought_ they could've died in the attack. He seemed to be so casual about it. Maybe he was just happy his daughter is alive and was focusing on that instead.

I let out a sigh. It seems like _something_ came out of my existence. The world wasn't trying to reject me. Why I was so happy over just three people surviving when thousands died I couldn't tell. It made me feel dirty inside. I could of done _more_.

"They gonna be stayin here. Like you should."

…

What do I say to that. Something inside of me needed to _know_ what was going on. Cloud and Tifa watched my reaction. I might of stiffened up or become defensive because I didn't like the way they were eyeing me. I was too busy focusing on what Barret meant.

"Why." I manage to snap out. My voice betraying my thoughts on the matter and how wrong I thought it was. It almost sounded accusatory, 'how could you think that' esque. I was caught off guard and confused. My emotions were going on a roller coaster. I wasn't ready to argue my case on why I should go. I had just thought that I would naturally come along.

Cloud decided to answer. "We don't need so many people going with us to rescue Aerith. It's going to be dangerous getting her back from Shinra headquarters. You have a life here. The rest of us don't. After we get Aerith out then we got to get her away from the city. Not sure where we're going yet, but when we find out, and you have some experience, feel free to come join us." Cloud landed a devastating blow that was hard to argue against. I was having a hard time processing his words. I needed to salvage this.

"I can help." I **firmly** state this time. "Do you guys even know how to get to Shinra HQ. Do you _even_ know if she's _**in**_ the HQ. Do you have a _**plan**_?"

I got sheepish looks from everyone.

"He's right. There ain't no train that goes up there anymore. I was just thinking the same thing." Barret thankfully backs up my point. That was no real plan anyway. To take a heavily monitored _train_ there, really? I guess it worked getting to the reactors the first time for them anyway. Not so much the second time.

"We should all go to Wall Market." I cut Tifa's response off and use the suggestion she was going to use. The only difference is that I had more detail about what was to come. I wasn't guilty about stealing her lines.

"No, you are staying here." Cloud cuts back at me.

I ignore him in favor of explaining further. "There's a wire running down an alley to the plate above. It leads all the way up, it's going to be one hell of a climb. We are going to need batteries to get all the way up to power some of the old maintenance lifts. Luckily I know the guy who sells then. He might even give you guys a discount if I ask him." I desperately try to defend my case.

Tifa steps forward. "Cloud I think we should let him come. He seems to know what he's talking about. I told you he can fight." Tifa defends me, thankfully. At least somebody is on my side.

Cloud responds almost immediately. "But he also can't use lightning materia. Shinra guards will be all over the place and he won't have a way to defend himself. Do you see any armor on him? How do you expect him to take out the machines? With those knives, or that peashooter? He doesn't fight like a warrior, more like a bandit. You said it yourself Tifa. We need fighters to rescue Aerith. Not people holding us back."

My fighting style was being brought into question? The one I worked hard on? In fact everything about me was being brought into question _after_ I offer to help them out. I clench my fist to stop them from shaking in anger. For one tempting second I was tempted to _shut him down_. Lets see how confident he is of his own fighting prowess when I reveal his **true** past to him. But no, I didn't need Cloud suffering from a mental breakdown this early. No matter how much he was pissing me off. I can't imagine what that would do to everything if it happened this early.

Maybe I could still salvage this. "Teach me how to use lightning then." If that was his biggest concern it could be fixed easily. I would even buy armor at Wall Market if I had too. It would mean less money for materia but I could live with that.

"I don't have time." With that final statement he took off and left. Leaving me utterly speechless and unable to argue. I had other materia for fucks sake. I had a backpack full of useful items. Was this what I was like to Jakayo and Tessa not giving them time to argue and just rushing off? It was infuriating and demeaning.

"Sorry kid. You heard the man, we got a job to do. I don't know her well. But, well, she saved Marlene." Barret scratches the back of his head and shrugs in a what-can-I-do gesture. "So now I gotta save her. It's the right thing to do and could save the planet." He sets Marlene down and follows after Cloud. They seemed to have already said their goodbyes to each other. With her father gone Marlene goes back inside after glancing at the two of us...no, me and Tifa, warily. She looked as if she wanted to say something, then decided against it and went back inside.

Tifa stood in front of me looking unsure and nervous. I was wondering if it was that obvious that I was angry. "Don't worry about what Cloud says. He hasn't been...himself lately. I'll try to talk him into bringing you next time." She gave me little pat on the shoulder and left without another word.

What the fuck just happened.

* * *

I wordlessly went back to the clinic and laid down. I needed to calm down and think. It was the afternoon but I wasn't feeling like doing much. I think I startled the old man coming back and just laying down. I had always been moving, working on something, getting ready to leave, anything really. I never just laid down during the day. I waved him off when he tried to check up on me and mumbled some excuse about just being tired. I needed to think this out.

I was rejected from the main cast of the game.

No, I really wasn't. Cloud had came to the rushed decision because he was pressed for time. I didn't have the connection that the group already had and couldn't explain myself. Tifa and Cloud were childhood friends. Barret took up AVALANCHE and had been running the group for his time in Midgar after moving from Corel. Then Cloud comes in and takes control of it. I was just some random that comes out of nowhere like Cloud was, but I didn't have the childhood friend to get me into the group. It wasn't fair. Still, I had helped them get to Aerith that much faster. Not only did I tell them where to go and what they needed to prepare, I offered my services to help rescue Aerith. Rejection didn't sit well with me. I was personally insulted.

So what do I do now?

I couldn't follow them. There was a host of problems I could see and I doubt I could get into the Shinra building after they storm it. Cloud didn't seem ready to run up countless flights of stairs. It would be surrounded while they looked for Aerith on the inside so no way to sneak in. I needed to prepare to go on the journey once they get out of the city. First I needed a way out. I had an idea about what I could do. Actually, before that there was something else that I needed to do. Something that was personal. It would help my mind if I did this.

I sat up and got out of bed surprising the Old Man. I only laid down to gather my thoughts and to calm down, I don't think I was there that long. I gathered everything that I owned in this world. I was wearing my clothes and old boots, my knapsack, gun, knives, materia, and gil pouch were prepared to leave. It was pitiful. Inside the assault rifle I put in cover and sense in the dual linked materia slots. I hadn't realized that the assault gun was the same type Barret had until I saw the materia slots when I fully inspected it. Sense and cover have served me well enough to warrant those spots on the gun. Even with the addition of ice and lightning I didn't want to broadcast that to everybody. Better to pull it out and surprise an enemy than to show your hand early. If they see any green materia they will be on the lookout for magic. With everything set I went towards the materia store to get the two siblings. I was surprised to see Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs in there talking to Jakayo's dad and introducing themselves. I stared dumbly when I realized that Biggs was missing an arm. I couldn't tell how big of a deal that was in this world.

Sadly I didn't have time to talk to them much. Just enough to figure out what they were doing. I wanted to have things ready for when Cloud and company are inevitably captured tonight. It was interesting hearing what the rest of AVALANCHE was going to do. Tessa and Jakayo were in the store with their father for once listening with rapt attention to the people who obviously fought for a living. The three ex-mercenaries had things planned for their time here in sector 5 and were sharing a house that wasn't being lived in. There were plenty of empty ones around. Jessie was going to open up her own workshop and work on designing a prosthetic for Biggs. She had procured power tools from somewhere and jerry-rigged a generator to power it all in a short time. When that project was finished her and Biggs were going to attach back onto a mercenary group move the workshop somewhere else. They haven't planned long term yet.

Wedge had the best idea of them all. He was going to become a cook. Probably the most sensible and best qualified job for the fat man. He admitted several times to being the weakest of the bunch, especially to food, and not really all that much up to fighting. When he saw my gun had a grenade launcher attachment he parted with all of his ammunition. It was his way of finalizing his detachment from fighting for a living. The fight at the pillar had scared him. Hell, it scared them all to the point of not talking about it. I was still in the dark about what had happened. Had Tseng or another Turk stepped in? Anyways, when he saw Aerith's house and the ease that plants grew there he was amazed. He immediately volunteered to help Elmyra, Aerith's mom, out in exchange for several small plots of land. Flowers grew ridiculously easy at her house, but the land flowers were taking up could easily be used to grow food. Food isn't scarce here but variety is. I had spent most of my days in the sector eating whole eater legs. They weren't bad, don't get me wrong, but the monotony of it turned me away from it. The only reason I stuck with it was because they were cheap.

The three of them knew what they were going to do, as did I, so we went our separate ways leaving the materia shop shortly. I took Jakayo and Tessa with me after their father relented. There really aren't many people buying materia in the slums anyways. They wanted to know what was going on but I wanted to surprise them for once. They got confused when I led them to Aerith's house. People were worried about the lack of Aerith. Especially since a Shinra helicopter dropped off Marlene at her house sometime in the morning before I got here. They figured that something was going on with her. I wasn't really in the mood to explain stuff, but this was something that I personally wanted to do.

From the little that I remember I was always moving around to different houses and schools. Military brat. Moving from one place to another can be jarring as a kid. You suddenly find yourself in another environment not knowing anybody. It sucks. Marlene was in the very same situation that I was when brought to camp and I couldn't just let her flounder like I did. I didn't see her wandering around outside for hours until somebody decided to talk to her. Sure Aerith's mom was nice about giving her a place to stay and just a sweet person overall. She was also old. She couldn't keep up or really associate with her. There were younger kids in the camp around her age but I didn't know them at all. Tessa and Jakayo did. They seamlessly integrated me into the camp and introduced me to people and would most likely do the same for Marlene.

Me and Elmyra watched the interaction play out when they were introduced. Marlene was shy and hesitant but Jakayo steamrolled over any social nervousness she might of had. Tessa's presence helped with any unease that she might of felt towards the high energy boy. He was just too friendly and energetic. I was a bit jealous of their innocence. Sure scary things have been happening around them recently, lots of big scary events, but they were young enough to not let it get to them and worry about it. I watched as Marlene let herself get tugged towards the camp. Jakayo was chattering about something, probably joining his gang, and he would pause to allow Tessa to explain it better.

After I watched them run off I went towards the guild. Guild as in a building just outside of camp that was connected to the main one in Shinra tower. The guild is where the mercenaries go for updated information about monster activities and for quests. Of course there was one in this fantasy world. I hadn't visited it yet, but was lucky to find out more about it. Sometimes Shira or others will contract the mercenaries for specific tasks, exactly as you would expect. I first heard about it about a week ago. I overheard a conversation about the ark dragon infestation of the mythril mines. I was intrigued to find out where they got their information. Even more intrigued about the squad of Shinra guards that were sent there to try to combat the insect infestation. Madouges, humanoid bulky robots with giant ball flails, were sent to the mines to combat the threat. Apparently the monster extermination hasn't been going well with no reinforcements because Shinra is still recuperating from the terrorist attacks. The lack of organization and logistics was appalling from the mega company.

The guild was close to the church, just a little out of the way. So close I was wondering why it wasn't put into the game. Much like Tifa's bar I walked into a large room that looked cared for and furnished. In fact it pretty much looked like a bar. Several people turned and several cries of "Vice!" were heard. Behind the bar sat Rilo's father with his gold chain. So this is where he worked. Shame, I would've much rather of been greeted by a busty receptionist. Technically, this was a fantasy world. Where were the big sister figures!

He waved me over and I sat in a stool in front of him. "Vice! I never thought I would've seen you in here! What can my guild do for you? Are you thinking about joining?" I blinked, slightly taken aback. I knew Rilo's dad was important, but I didn't expect him to run the local guild. I would of guessed a strong fighter who could take charge during a crisis. It brought into question why he went to the Don for work all over again.

I took a deep breath then began listing off things I needed. "Can I get some traveling supplies? The basic set. Tent, food, water, map, monsterpedia, access pass for getting outside the city, new boots, and something to keep me dry." I wondered if that covered just about everything I needed. It was asking for a bit much, then remembered something. Something big. Something I would need to progress into the mythril mines. Maybe I could get one here to save the group time later. "And a chocobo lure if you have any?"

He looked at me oddly. "Chocobo lure? What do you need a chocobo for in the city? None worth catching nearby, maybe you can find one a couple days out." He made a good point about it.

"I need to cross the marsh." I left it as simply as he could. Let him come to his own conclusions.

He scowled as if he was tasting something bad. "Have you been talking to that man who calls himself Choco Bill? Is he in town?" He questions me. There is an eager look on his face.

I shake my head no, wondering where this was going. That was oddly specific and I could smell a rant coming. Maybe even a sidequest.

He doesn't disappoint. "If you see him, tell him I want to have words with him. Very nice and friendly words." The grin that pops onto his face is the complete opposite of nice or friendly. The goblins that I fought looked more friendly than him right now. "He's been telling everyone he can that the only way to cross the marsh is with a chocobo. Poor fools believe it. People have been flocking to him recently from all over with the Zolom that's been seen around there. All it takes is a little scare and people will give their money to whoever they think has the answer." He angrily spouts out.

"Why haven't you done anything about it then?" I ask, questioning if this was really the case. This was a completely different perspective than the one given during the game. Was this the power of asking around and not rushing to your objective? What else was I missing or wasn't as it seemed in the game? I wanted to take his word for it, I still might go for a powerful materia in that location. The man in front of me seemed powerful enough to do something about this problem.

"He's not the only one telling others. He pays the other farmers and ranchers to spread that ridiculous lie. Pretty sure he even has plants in Kalm. I **know** he is the one behind it all. He may play the simple rancher but he is anything but. I wouldn't want the people that grow Midgars food revolting over their little money grab anyways. It's not hurting anybody, just their pockets. 'Sides, no evidence either." He lets out a disgruntled huff and mutters something to himself. Something about what he would do if he got his hands on him. Something very painful, and I don't believe anatomically possible.

"Still if you really need to make it to the Junon area through the mines you should take the old service path." He tells me. He _tells_ me like it wasn't a big deal and should be common knowledge. I could only wonder how many thousands of frustrated players would strangle this man for not telling them about it. I could almost hug him, but I contained myself. I had fully prepared myself to be chased by a giant snake and now it seemed like it wouldn't be the case.

"There is a service path?" I repeat hopefully. This definitely wasn't in the game. Just the prospect of entirely avoiding the giant snake and saving days by not having to catch a chocobo was putting me in a good mood. Before, I idly toyed with the idea of staying close to Sephiroth because he would kill the one snake, but decided against it for fear of my life. Now it might even be possible to enter the mines _before_ Sephiroth. I still wanted the summon materia.

"I'll mark it for you on the map. It runs along the mountains west of the swamp. Wouldn't be surprised if the little shit hid it somehow." He says like it really wasn't a big deal.

With this he goes into the back and starts preparing what I ordered. It takes him a while to gather up everything and I am left idling at the counter. I wondered how this would change things. This was big, but not that big. He comes back with a hefty bag. I was impressed, how did he fit everything into there? I move to grab it but his hand reaches out and clamps onto mine.

"Listen, thanks for checking on Rilo. I couldn't really tell what drove him to working for that man of all people. I think he was a bit jealous of you honestly. You were doing all these things by yourself and he didn't think it was fair that he was getting help from me and the others around here. He and his brother grew up in the guild and we just wanted to help him out. Espescially after his brother died. I tried telling him that the world isn't fair, that we would help you out when you asked, but he didn't like hearing that. You hardly ever asked for help and when you did, it was the simplest things that Rilo knew since a kid. I won't ask what happened at Wall Market. I've been hearing some things and I think it'd be better if I didn't know the full story. Thank you. All this is on me, it's the least I can do for everything you've done around here." He then lets go and gives a look around the room. Several people turn away, obviously listening in.

I take the opportunity to swing the heavy bag onto my back. It fits snugly right under my knapsack and the weight is distributed evenly. I was doubly impressed now. This was professional work. I doubt that even _I_ could get it packed like this. I move around to make sure that it wouldn't swing around like the chain around his neck. When everything checked out I turned to go. As I was walking out he gave me some parting advice. I paused to listen.

"One more thing. It's dangerous to go alone. The slums is one thing, but out there it gets on another level of dangerous. Things have been getting even more crazy lately, so much so that even I can hardly believe it. It's like a cataclysm for some big event that's coming to bear. Watch yourself out there." He warns me.

With the ominous and future-encapsulating words trailing behind me I head back towards the clinic to watch events play out.


	11. Chapter 9- Rejected Reality

When do you realize that there is no true good or pure evil? When you first see your parents do something wrong? When you hear your pastor curse? It doesn't sink in when told that the world isn't fair the first time as a kid, or even the first time it happens around you. Bad things can be good. Good things can be bad. You have to _see_ and _experience_ it to understand what exactly that means and all of the confusing contradiction it entails. Even the worst people in history were just people. It's a worrying fact that the best of us have the potential to be the worst. There was a reason I was thinking about this ambiguous topic of morality.

It was nearing night. I was quietly watching Cloud, Barret, and Tifa attack the Shinra HQ lobby on the television screen. The Old Man had pulled out a T.V from storage after the sector plate collapse to stay updated on just what the hell is happening in Midgar. While he was watching the news I was reading the monsterpedia while offhandedly listening. I remembered that he had lived through everything that happened before the game started. Wutai war, Genesis attack, SOLDIER decline, old AVALANCHE attacks, experiments getting loose, and maybe even a WEAPON attack that plagued the city of Midgar. He survived it all. Not an easy feat. He was tense and his experience was telling him that there would be more. He kept muttering to himself that there would be something else, that there was _always_ something else, as if to make sure he wasn't surprised when it happens.

He was right.

The attack was broadcasted in a special news alert. The lobby of the building had quickly turned into a massacre, more akin to a meat blender with blood and bodies everywhere. People cut down and guards destroyed with no hesitation by Cloud. Barret opened fire with his gun arm on anybody that wasn't fleeing. Even Tifa pummeled anything that got in her way. In a flare of a limit break she absolutely pulverized a guard and sent him flying across the room to slam into a wall, where their bones were most likely liquified. There was no slow, red fading of defeated enemies like in the game. There was just lots of blood and screaming. I wasn't surprised by this but it was unsettling seeing people who were just doing their jobs and trying to make a living working at Shinra die. A lot different than Corneo's men. It was a quick, efficient blitz resulting in the three heros piling into the elevator leading up and leaving the bloody lobby behind. How the news agency got the footage so quick, especially with the building now on lockdown, and why they decided to attack the front door may never be answered. The building was now surrounded by a small army while Cloud & Co stomped around inside the building looking for Aerith.

I just looked at the replaying scene of the lobby attack on the screen. Feeling conflicted. All this just to save a girl that Cloud met for not even a full day. It seemed...petty. Was that a Cetra power to make people want to save and help her? Or was that just Cloud being a good person and wanting to save her? I understood the drive to overthrow a corrupt government that Barret was feeling, but they weren't doing that. They were making Aerith into a scapegoat just to destroy Shinra for revenge of collapsing the sector plate. Before it was saving the planet but now it was a thinly veiled revenge. Yes, Shinra was the definition of corrupt with power hungry leaders, they deserved to be overthrown. Yes, Aerith was special and needed to be saved. This wasn't planning to overthrow anything at all. It was just tearing down the structure and then letting the people fend for themselves and figure out what happens next. Aimed destruction with little thought to the aftermath or repercussions.

A news helicopter circled the 70 story skyscraper ready to cover any events that play out. 'AVALANCHE attacking Shinra?' was plastered all over the screen. With their directors effectively under lockdown and unable to give them instructions or updated news, the agency was taking the opportunity to broadcast the attack with no censure. Most likely because people wanted to know what was happening in their city and were tired of not being told what was going on. Two mako reactors and a sector getting destroyed and they were being kept in the dark. Heads were going to roll for the leaked footage of the lobby attack. All because Shinra public relations was going to take a big hit for seeming so weak and not being able to stop three people from rampaging inside their headquarters. The army wasn't moving in and seemed hesitant. AVALANCHE had a reputation for using bombs and they were waiting before rushing in. It wouldn't do to have the entire building go up in smoke.

I clenched my fist. I should've been there helping with the rescue. There were hidden things scattered around the building that they probably didn't have time to look for or find. With an extra set of hands they could have gotten them and saved Aerith faster. Would they get all of it? I could only wait and find out. There's been a lot of consistency between the game and this world. There were only the few odd things that I couldn't figure out _why_ they were different. At least not yet. I wouldn't mentally trip myself up trying to reason out what was causing them.

There was lots of speculation about the attack over the next several hours. It all came to a close quickly when the building was taken off of lockdown and military began mobilizing to police people who were panicking. In all, it took them about three hours to rescue Aerith. Impressive considering they didn't have a plan and didn't know the layout. 'Terrorist captured. Official statement from President Shinra on the way.' Just like in the game they were captured. But, thanks to protagonist powers, our heros would luck out! Their headstrong actions would have no serious repercussions aside from the inconvenience of being locked up in a jail cell for a day. Even still, is it that much of an inconvenience when you are locked up with you allies and woman like Tifa? A strange sense of jealousy or unfairness washed over me. In a _real_ universe they wouldn't be special and luck out. The story would end there with them in cells. No deus ex machina scenarios to break them out. What made the others special? What reasons, out of the millions of people out there, made _them_ special? I knew a few mercenaries that could give them hell in a fight, maybe even beat them. So it isn't because they could fight and save the planet.

Hell, humans weren't even that much of a threat compared to some of the monsters out there, so fighting wouldn't be enough. There were some monsters that took the mobilization of the army to take down. The kind where you evacuate entire cities just because they were spotted nearby. Humans were by no means apex predators. We were more akin to coyotes in the world. We _could_ become one _only_ if there was nothing bigger close by. That didn't happen often. The only reason we were so high up in the food chain is because we can utilize mako to various degrees for fighting and technology improvements. Like coyotes, we were only dangerous if we learned how to fight. Without it, humans would've been wiped out a long time ago. Extinction level threat. It was daunting to think about, but that's the way the world is.

You wouldn't think this was a death world at first glance. For me, it sunk in when I learned that there are very, very few non-aggressive species on the planet. Even the term aggressive is skewed here. Aggressive here means it will not only go out of it's way to hunt you down, it will follow your tracks to find more people aggressive. Regular dogs and cats exist, but will never be seen outside of a human settlement. They wouldn't last maybe a day or two. Any domesticated animals wouldn't don't have the drive, experience, or honed instincts to survive. That's why monster is a staple diet in society, a lot of monsters around midgar are hunted just for food and considered not truly dangerous by anybody that can shoot a gun. Dolphins and small fish are about the only thing you will come across in the wild that won't attack you on sight. Moogles being the other, but they are so rare they might as well be fairy tales. The only reason humans have gained a foothold is because of a long waged war to stay alive, advance technology, and push back monsters.

The monsterpedia I had gotten and read during my spare time waiting for the attack to unfold has helped me immeasurably. It was like sense in the game. It showed if the monster was magical, what to watch out for, and its weaknesses. Not only that, but it was sorted by region and the unique enemies seen there. It allowed me to refresh on what _absolute madness_ I would be up against. Not everything was covered, but a good portion was. I was feeling prepared to test myself in a fight now that I had materia.

I had a feeling that this was ridiculously expensive because of the amount of detail and it's length. It was the majority of the weight in the bag after all. The rest was just several potions, a very lightweight easy setup tent, and an umbrella. I had put on the new boots and sold the old beat ones. I was hoping for a rain cloak or something but I an umbrella would have to do. It was the compact kind that popped out and was easy to store.

The conclusion of the attack was anti-climatic. They were captured, but no information was released about what exactly had happened or the reasoning behind the attack. No big drawn out fight to end on. Just that it was now over. With the conclusion, I realized that there was still some time to get things prepared. I had everything I needed for the next day when the group gets released from Shinra custody and make their escape during the night. Released being the term when everyone gets slaughtered in the building by Sephiroth and it gets blamed on AVALANCHE. In that time I could learn how to use lightning. I turned my thoughts away and focused on one of the few things I enjoy, figuring things out. Tomorrow I could get used to the area around Midgar and fighting the enemies around the city.

I reach into my right-front pocket and pull out the problem materia and idly bring sparks into the world. They didn't take me on their attack because I didn't know how to use this, but if I learned, then I could go with them on their journey. I _knew_ that something bad would happen if I didn't learn it right away. It just means I need to get better and be more prepared for the next problem that I come across.

With my mind set on making use of the time I had, I left the clinic and walked towards the clearing that holds plenty of memories. The cover incident and teaching kids how to use materia namely. It seemed like it had happened so long ago but was, once again, honestly not that far back. I had been in the city for...three or four months, and who knows how long in the vat. I turned my thoughts away from things that would only sour my thoughts. It was fitting that I test out materia that I don't know how to use there. I chuckle dryly to myself.

What could go wrong?

I stretch out. I had grown a lot since I came here. A _lot._ Once again it was on an absurd level but nobody really questioned it. I think something in the vat must of been stunting my growth and then my body was trying to compensate for all the strange signals my brain was sending it. It made sense when I thought about it like that. Also I ate a ridiculous amount of food. Not hard when I would go out and bring back several dozen whole eater legs a day, get them cooked, then snack on them the entire next day. It was like several growth spurts that happened all at once. I still had stretch marks on my back that gave credit to the unbelievable growth. I felt _right_ in this body. Less like a body snatcher and more of my old self. I couldn't tell if it was my mind shaping itself to the body, or the body shaping itself to my mind.

It wasn't that my life was bad, it's that it was taken away from me. I was rudely awakened to extremely unpleasant stimuli, then I found out I was trapped in a game. It's not something nice to think about with all the feelings and memories associated with that scenario. I would much rather focus on the present and what I _could do_ and not think about things I couldn't change or even find out about.

I sat down cross legged and focused. I needed to really think about this. How was lightning formed? It's an electric current, I knew that. The earth acts as the positive and clouds the negative end of the current. Could it just be that I only had one type which is why the current isn't completing? I only sent in mako _into_ the materia. It made sense. But what was the positive and what was the negative. I guess mako was acting as the energy because of the stream. Did I need to aim it at a living being? No, I didn't think so. Fire and ice don't work like that and this shouldn't be much different. I needed to somehow create an electrictrical current with a weird alien energy. How could I do that though? I didn't know the science behind mako. Nobody really did to the full extent. Experimentation seemed like the only way to find out. Hopefully I wouldn't send myself into cardiac arrest, that would be hard to explain if the kids came across me. They were pretty freaked out the last time they found me locked up on the ground.

I hold the green orb in my palm and turn my focus on figuring this out. I flare up a tiny amount of mako in my body, then focus on a point. I try to pump as much mako into the point before sending a surge through the materia. Nothing seems to happen for a moment then sparks form at the spot for a brief second. I grin. Now that I knew what to look for the sparks were aimed at me. I think I knew what to do now. Things were starting to come together.

With my heart pumping I flare up mako heavily inside of me, almost like I was enhancing my muscles but less controlled. With my heart fluttering in anticipation I then focus on a point and slowly channel a good amount of mako into the materia. A very thin line streaks out and-

KKRRAAACK

I grin wider. Elation filling my chest. The amount of mako I put into it giving off huge payoffs. _That_ would hurt somebody badly if it hit. I could experiment with it more and find which amount of mako that I put in my body and materia had the best payoff for lighting. The problem I was having was that I didn't circulate enough mako inside of me when I tried to fire it off before. There was no need to for ice or fire, so I just didn't do it. Somehow filtering the mako through the materia gave it a different charge than the mako inside my body. I didn't understand how I wasn't affected by the lightning that shoots out of the materia connected to the extremely thin line of mako. I just chalked it up to mako being mako.

I had succeeded over this problem that has been plaguing me. The time to myself and not feeling rushed helped a lot in that regard. It wasn't that hard when I reasoned it out. I was now feeling much more prepared and confident for the upcoming journey. I would even say happy. No more idiotic plans such as attacking the enemy HQ with a small group that I would have to deal with. Speaking of plans, how was I going to convince them to take me on their journey. Tifa said she would try to talk to Cloud about it. I doubted that would be enough.

I idly brought some sparks into the world, watching it and thinking about the task I set myself thinking about. Now that I knew what to do this much was easy. Just flare up a little bit of mako inside of me and pour a little mako into the materia. It yielded a small positive and negative charge so lighting wouldn't truly form. How _would_ I convince them. That's the question, what was the answer? They were a tight group, aside from Aerith and Red, who were subjected to Hojo's experiments together. I discarded the notion of telling them that I woke up in a vat. Nobody experimented on me from what I was aware of and it's not really a bonding experience that people come together over. I wasn't comfortable telling people that at all anyways. I thumbed the file, I wasn't going to trust _anybody_ else with this, I'd learn to read before asking someone to read it. Just thinking of the picture of me in the vat with a vacant, lifeless stare makes my blood chill. Maybe just being in the right place at the right time would allow me to get into their graces. They seemed to personify that behavior. I shrugged, maybe a backpack full of of medicine and knowledge of what to do would. I wouldn't give it away freely like I did last time and just be taken advantage of. It still annoyed me, no thank you or acknowledgement at all for what I did. Hopefully they would think about it while being held, they did have all of tomorrow to do that. I wondered if what they talked about while in the cells changed at all since I've been introduced to them and had some effect on their journey.

The lights above dimmed considerably. The warning for lights out soon. I thought that I would be doing this throughout the night but finished _much_ earlier than I thought. I was planning to stay up all night if I had to. It was nice that I would be able to get some sleep before things came to a boiling point. I could go another day without sleep, maybe two, but that's it. Human limits can only be stretched so far. Even Sephiroth, with all his enhancements and godlike strength, needed to sleep. Same with other members of SOLDIER. It just goes to show it can be stretched to ridiculous limits.

* * *

The next day I woke up unsure about what to do with my free time. I wasn't comfortable with doing nothing and sitting around. I got up, stretched, checked the news, and prepared for the day. Nothing seemed off with Shinra after the attack. Shinra correctly labeled the attack on the headquarters by AVALANCHE and both the Mayor and President each gave a speech about the events. Nothing exciting, just that terrorism won't stand against the might of Shinra. Typical propaganda. A brief mention that there was no damage to other sectors and that there would be heightened security in case rescue attempts were made. In the past there were city-wide attacks that happened frequently. It happened about the same time as the decline of SOLDIER. I _think_ I remember something about that in the crisis-core games, never played them. I needed to focus on what was to come, not the past. I wish I paid more attention to the other games, there might be something that I could use to help me. I felt like I was missing something big.

I sat around the clinic for a good bit, bored out of my mind. There were a lot of people congregating in camp. The mercenaries were back because of the attack and were now gossiping. It was mainly speculation about the state of the city, how things have changed, what they think is going to happen next, and needing to be looking up for falling sector plates now instead of at the ground. Even the weapons dealer's kid was unusually quiet. Usually he would be running around pretending he was in a train with other kids, but he was sullen. There was a lot of worrying, but there was also a lot of people that stood up for what AVALANCHE did. They just thought it was stupid to attack them head on like that and should of stuck with attacking the reactors if they wanted to get rid of Shinra. I was glad that I wasn't the only one to think that.

With nothing better to do I decided to go hunting. Not in sector 6 this time around. I had an access pass for outside the city now and planned on using it. Now was the perfect opportunity to get an idea of the area surrounding the city. I remember seeing it from the helicopter with Tseng. A wasteland. The mako reactors sucked most of the mako from the land so nothing grows. About a day out from midgar is when you start seeing grass again.

I was surprised to see Rilo waiting for me at the edge of camp.

There was no other way to describe it. He fell into step beside me when we were leaving without saying anything. I was confused and wondered what he thought he was doing. We made it to the road that leads towards the church and he still didn't say anything. The access gate was right past the church actually, now that I thought about it. Sector 6 was the opposite way. I thought that Rilo would go back to hunting monsters now with no job.

"Where are you going?" I decided to ask. He obviously wasn't going to explain things without prompting.

"Hunting with you? Dad said you have an access pass for outside Midgar like me. Also he guessed that you'd probably go hunting today and that I should tag along. A helping hand wouldn't hurt." He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He even had the audacity to look at me oddly for asking. I just didn't expect him to want to go hunting with me. He never offered before. What was he doing being approachable?

"Not hunting in sector 6?" I prompted him to explain further.

He shook his head no. His black hair swung back and forth with the action, getting in his eyes. He should cut that before it becomes a problem during combat. "It's been mostly cleared out since Shinra acted, won't make much money going in there. Besides, I used to go outside Midgar before...all that...stuff...in Wall Market happened. I ran into too many problems going by myself and it got too dangerous so I needed to make money to prepare for it better. I was having to buy potions all the time. It would be a lot easier with two people to hunt and make money. Especially now that you have materia." He reasoned out.

Huh, that was actually really well thought out explanation. I was impressed.

I then realized that even with Rilo's bad career choice, he wasn't a bad person. I'd even say he was pretty damn decent, more honest than me. My musings about good and evil came back to the front of my mind. He wanted to make an honest living while I earned most of my money and equipment killing and looting his boss. It was ironic. Rilo lived in a pretty isolated area. There really wasn't any way that he could've known about the Don's reputation. He seemed to be handling what happened at the mansion pretty well, but he was still inexperienced with a lot of things and how the world worked. I had another life and meta-knowledge to draw conclusions from. From what I gathered he had just wanted to do better than me all by himself, but now he was wanting to stick by my side. I wondered what made him decide that. I noted that he had a traveling pack just like mine. I could guess what his dad was up to, sending his son to wait for me, probably worried about what would happen if I went alone. I remembered him saying that it was dangerous to go alone.

Rilo had a point with what he said. He had experience with hunting monsters outside the city. Something that I wanted. It was also true that it would be easier and safer with more people. I could possibly even earn some gil before I left. We were already headed towards the access gate anyways so It couldn't hurt to let him tag along. It wasn't far at all from the camp. The camp really was situated on the outskirts of the city and away from everything. When we got to the clear, and massive gate I was unimpressed. No guardhouse, no guards, just a little slot that the access pass goes into and an automatic door. Sure, there were cameras with guns strapped to them and it _was_ a giant safety galss wall, but that was it. In fact I didn't even need to _use_ my access pass that I aquired. I just followed behind Rilo when he used the one he owned. I was a little bit disappointed about getting something and not using it. It wasn't an easy thing to remember to have when you were used to living in cities that you didn't need permission to leave. Midgar was so much different than the cities that I remembered.

I was even more unimpressed with the sight once we were out of the city. Midgar wastelands. The ground was a sickly yellowish-grey color, the same as in the city. Rocks were jutting out of the ground all over the landscape. I couldn't see any vegetation anywhere, but I had gotten used to that sight in the slums also. It was exactly the same as I saw it from the air and in the game. There were several plateaus in the distance that looked like large rocky hills. It looked almost as If a war had been fought with all the pockets and rocks strewn about. Or a monster attack. I wondered if the saying that there was nothing truly dangerous around Midgar was true. I would hate to fight a high level enemy in a random encounter.

We both paused as we passed the threshold between civilization and the wild. It was a big change in scenery, slightly unsettling at first. Then I felt something I hadn't in a long time. I looked up and smiled when I felt the sun upon my face. Like passing into sector 6 there seemed to be tension that hung in the air, but I ignored it to enjoy this moment. Rilo tensed up when we came out into the open, underneath the blue sky.

"It never feels right, being out in the open like this." Rilo mutters to himself.

"It feels amazing." I hum.

I turned my head upwards and basked in the feeling more. He may of grew up underneath the plate and was unused to it, but I sorely missed the feeling. It's hard to describe what months of essentially being kept in a cage then suddenly finding yourself outside feels like. Liberating just doesn't do it justice. Blissful is closer to what it feels like. I could feel myself be invigorated just from the change of scenery. I hadn't realized how much being in Midgar was subconsciously affecting me. Stress slid off my shoulders and I took deep, refreshing breaths. Air flowed into my lungs and with the exhale tension left my body. The air was by no means clean, but it was better than inside the city.

Rilo turns towards me. "Have you ever been outside the city? Most people freak out when they see the sky. I didn't though." The question threw me off guard.

I wasn't really sure how to answer that. I mean _technically_ I had been, but that would be hard to explain. I couldn't tell him where I had been because, well, honestly I didn't know. The next time I saw Tseng, would I ask him? I wasn't sure, it was something firmly uncomfortable to talk about and I wanted to know more before I did. Would I see him in the mines? Could I bring myself to say that in front of the group? I thumbed the file, and then decided on my answer. I had been thinking long enough on it anyways.

"No. Can't say I have. I have a hard time remembering anything before I got to the slums." I answer. It would be too confusing to explain.

He grins at me. Probably remembering the time that I decided to name myself. "Looks like I beat you at something. Don't worry, I'll help you out if you get too freaked out." He laughs while saying it.

I scoff. Did he think I would get nervous? Or did he misunderstand my hesitation in answering? It was hard to tell. I didn't know him well enough to intuit what he meant. I wondered if I ever could, the people raised on this planet have a much different mindset than what I was used to. I was just glad he wasn't rubbing it in my face. For someone who was so one-sidedly competitive with me, he was being remarkably friendly.

I made it clear that I wanted to be back before dark. It was still early morning and was a reasonable demand on my part, but I think I surprised him about wanting to be back at all. We decided on staying in sight of the city and to just pick off anything that we could find to make some easy money. The point of this trip wasn't necessarily to learn or make money. It was to _do_ something, which was infinitely better than just sitting in the clinic all day. To use our free time in a productive manner. This was how we both dealt with things. Throwing ourselves into work and bettering ourselves. Rilo and me shared a lot of things in common.

With everything settled we walked into the wastelands with the city to our backs.

* * *

Our first fight we came across was between a demon, 'devil ride', and a half dead pack of Kalm fangs. I was slightly nervous. This was a demon just like the hell house. I wasn't sure if the fight would be tough or not. It was considered a lesser demon, unlike the hellhouse which was a regular one. I wasn't sure how they were properly categorized, nothing in the monsterpedia made any mention of it. Books on demonology weren't mass produced because there weren't any set forms that demons could take. Too much variation. It was worrying.

We crouched behind a rock and I let Rilo take point and call the shots. After all, he had experience with the enemies in this area. He seemed like he knew what he was doing at least. Let the enemies wear each other out before attacking. Simple strategy, and it gave me time to observe movements. We weren't the focus of this battle playing out. I look down at the standoff happening.

The devil ride was two tires with scrap and metals piled on top. It led to a vague impression of a motorcycle, like someone took acid and tried to describe it. I was more curious about how it stayed together without falling apart than terrified. It didn't look _nearly_ anywhere as dangerous as a hell house. There was a lot of random pieces of metal and it was severely unbalanced. I saw fused guns and handle bars in the pile atop it along with random exhaust pipes that weren't connected to anything. Two red glowing eyes tracked the movement of the three giant wolves it was facing off against.

The Kalm fangs were purple wolves with a lion's mane. They were a bit on the small side for wolves. Maybe smaller than the ones in my world, in fact I'd say that the whole eaters were more dangerous with their numbers. They looked nimble, and their signature fangs had a reputation for being deadly. In my book it says that they can grow to bigger sizes in different areas. It was obvious that they were pack creatures with how they coordinated and constantly glanced at each other. They even managed to damage the devil ride. Scrap littered the ground, so the demon effigy took _some_ damage, though it looked like it didn't hinder it much.

Very different from the monsters with lacerations all over them. The fangs were in bad shape.

With some unspoken signal the demon spurred forward and did a sharp turn at the last second, flipping its back wheel out and slamming into the remaining survivors with its body. Broken and lifeless bodies flew away in the wake of it's attack. I was impressed that they hadn't turned into paste. The demon could accelerate deceptively fast.

"NOW!" Rilo calls out as he jumps from behind the rock, pulling a molotov cocktail from a pocket and lighting it. He throws it at the demon trying to awkwardly turn its wheels to face us. It was unnerving seeing no reaction from it when the item burst open on its body splattering fire all over it. I put trust in Rilo, but most went into game mechanics bleeding over. Hit it enough and it dies.

I jump on top of the rock for a better vantage point and grip my ice materia tightly, then offhandedly fire off a burst of ice into it's center mass. I watch the line streak out and connect like an aiming reticle. The target was near the end of the spell range so it took a second to get there. Ice explodes outwards from the point. Icicles embedded into the metal, a few pieces fall off, and the fire is put out. Not much else though. The demon soundlessly moves forward. How did it move with no engine? Oh, right, mako is bullshit.

"Aim for the eyes!" Rilo shouts out while dashing forward to meet the charge.

Right, obvious weak point that should be exploited. I wasn't used to fighting demons, usually avoided them. Center mass was the easiest thing to hit but wouldn't do me any good with this opponent. I focus and a thin stream branches out in between the eyes of the now charging poor imitation of a motorcycle. It's getting difficult to focus on its movement with it's speed, but still manage to fire off the spell accurately. Its head freezes over, but unlike last time, icicles branch out and snap freeze deep into the metal. It elicited a mouthless scream that sounded more like grinding metal. With the damage to its vision it veered off its charge towards Rilo, who was the first closest target. Rilo took the chance to dart in with a burst of speed and lash at a tire, making it capsize and flip onto the ground.

Seeing an opportunity when it's presented, I blur past Rilo and hop onto it's downed body. I avoid exhaust pipes and other sharp, jagged pieces of metal, and stab downwards up to the hilt into one of the red eyes. I felt my dagger crack something, crack in turn, then break off. I jump away holding the hilt portion of the whole eater tooth, expecting a retaliatory attack.

The demon stayed down.

Rilo walked up beside me and we both stared at the strangely formed demon. This was what I had to live with now. Unexplainable things that are just a normal part of people's lives here on Gaia. Fighting monsters just to get from place to place. Madness. I didn't like it, but I could live with it.

Rilo cleared his throat. "Uhhh, usually it's a lot harder than that…they don't go down that easily most of the time." He just stares at the pile of scraps. Then he shakes his head and takes charge. "Alright, you grab its core and I'll skin the Kalm fangs."

"Core?" There was no demon entry in the monsterpedia. I had no idea what he was talking about. It wasn't in the game either. He just stares at me blankly. Then decides that I would need it explained to me.

"You think demons just come from nowhere? No, each one has a core and it fetches a decent price. They often reform around Midgar because the automated defenses and guards don't bother with it." He says it casually like he didn't just reveal something insane and a hidden piece of the puzzle. I'd have to see if it was true.

I hurriedly rushed over the decent sized pile of metal pieces from the downed demon near where it's head was. I dig around in the scraps for a bit until I find what looks like a very small, grey orb with a crack in it. I just hold it up staring closely, trying to piece together how it could be the cause of what we fought. This was _interesting_. This small materia like thing caused the demon to form in the material plane? Wait, were there different planes of existence in this universe? If there were demons then there had to be.

"Hey Rilo, what happens if you try to use it?" I was wondering why it was called a core instead of demon materia or something similar. It seemed fitting.

He looks up at me in the middle of halfway skinning one of the wolves. He worked fast. "The demon will try to get back into the world. Don't."

I needed to find out. Could it be a hidden materia?

I slowly channel mako into it, and the crack starts to seal up. I pour a little bit more into it and some of the metal pieces nearby start to rattle ominously. Where regular materia converts the mako, this seems to just make the mako...disappear inside of it. It was intriguing. Deciding to stop the problem before something even more strange can happen, I circulate mako into my fist and clinch until it cracks again. There, problem dealt with.

"What do they do with this?" I ask. Who would be crazy enough to buy demon cores? Why not just destroy them entirely? _Could_ you even destroy them entirely or would they reform? All things to figure out at a different time. If we ran across any more I could say my hand slipped or something and experiment.

He shrugs. "Not really sure, but Shinra will pay for them with fixed bounties depending on the size. People say they make weapons and even figured out a way to use it for power. A lot of the mercenaries would talk about it. I think that they melt it down to power things, but really nobody but Shinra knows."

That sounded...dangerous, but believable. Entirely something Shinra would do.

It makes sense that size of the core would dictate how powerful a demon is. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if hell houses were just older devil rides that somehow got into Midgar. I wait for him to finish skinning the wolves. He did work fast. I never had to skin anything before and paid attention to what he was doing. It didn't look difficult, try to cut as much of it off as you can without damaging anything. The Kalm fangs have valuable fur, even if they were cut up badly they would still be worth something at least.

Then I realized something. I look down at the broken weapon in my hand. I wouldn't be able to replace the knives that I accumulated since there were no whole eaters out in the wilderness. This fight just showed that they are a bit too brittle to stand up against the stronger monsters out in the wild. I knew this would happen eventually, but not this soon. Kalm fangs were only one level higher than whole eaters in the game. But whole eater teeth didn't really stand up to the metal of the devil rides when the Kalm fangs did decent damage before we got there.

I go over to a body of one of the Kalm fangs and lift up it's gums. Rilo looks at me questioningly.

"Trust me. I think I can use the fangs to make new daggers." I explain my reasoning to touch the dead bodies. He relents and backs off to give me space.

Just as its namesake implies the teeth are razor sharp and would make a perfect replacement. It was a bit thicker and longer than what I had gotten used to, almost 2 feet in length, but shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. They were giant canines. I would need to make grips and balance out the weight. I doubted that I would be able to throw these without a lot of practice, but they were makeshift daggers. Easy to use, easy to learn is the name of its game.

I set about the bloody task of ripping out fangs and storing them for later modifications that I would have to make. The enemies didn't seem like they would pose much of a threat with both me and Rilo here. Maybe now would be a good time to test out some of the things I had been meaning to. I had Rilo to cover for me if something went wrong.

* * *

I found out hunting in the wastelands was very different from what I did in sector 6. It felt more akin to scavenging than hunting and running. Most of the fights we were in the monsters had already been in a fight of some sort. No demons were seen, so I didn't get any cores to play around with.

We came upon a wrecked custom sweeper, a cheap robot used to hunt down devil rides and blow up its core with explosives. I found out it had the same assault gun that the don's men, and now me, used. I tried to find the atomic scissors you could steal from it, but didn't find anything that looked like a weapon in the scraps. I wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal got most of the weapons from scavenging outside Midgar like this. The custom sweeper looked like a steampunk radiator transformer with twin guns and a giant exhaust port as its main body. There were even ports on the back of it to fire off its matra magic. I didn't get to see it in action, and didn't have an enemy skill to learn the move anyways. Enemy skill. Now _that's_ a materia that I would like to get my hands on and see how it works. Multiple magics in one materia? _How_?

The Kalm fangs and occasional hobgoblins were just no match for the both of us as I guessed. Especially now that I had materia. I would just one shot them with my spells, It almost felt like cheating. If this was more like a game I would say we were overleveled. It was easy to the point I decided to get practice with my gun and new combat enhancers. Rilo scolded me that the bullets would ruin the pelts, but I didn't care, the benefit of doing damage from a distance was too helpful to pass up. Luckily he didn't see me take the enhancers. If they were needles I would've stayed away from them, but they were liquid consumables so I wasn't too worried about anything bad happening. In the game the two that I have, hyper and tranquilizer, canceled each other out and I had both on hand. Hyper was unpleasant taking it first. In the game it caused fury, here it made me want to rush in and I would shiver from mako fluctuations happening inside of me. Very unpleasant, and it threw my concentration off. Tranquilizer was unnerving. In the game it caused sadness, here it made me just...not care. A peaceful feeling would settle over me, even the mako inside of me felt more at ease and would flow easier. I could see why people would take it recreationally, I didn't want to fall into the trap of recreational enhancer use so stopped after knowing how they affected me. They both translated correctly from the game in realistic manners like most things have so far.

The practice was worth it. It took several burst to bring the monsters down. One on one, Rilo could take on anything, but as soon as more were added into the fight he struggled. If he used a gun it wouldn't be a problem, but he forgot his at Wall Market. He claimed that there would eventually be a monster bullets wouldn't hurt. And that I should either choose a melee weapon or gun, not both. Stupid! That's when you get a bigger gun. I could see his logic of not relying on one thing too much. There _are_ monsters out there that no conventional way to harm has been found. Liberal amounts of magic are used on those problems.

When confronted about not having long ranged option he decided to try out the materia that I had. There was bound to eventually be a monster that he eventually couldn't cut like flying enemies so I relented. He held the materia in his hand like a precious stone, which I guess they were. He concentrated on forming the spell, concentrated some more, then failed to produce anything.

Jakayo wasn't kidding about Rilo being awful with materia.

Even with my help it took him as long as seven seconds to charge up a decent sized spell which would tire him. It would fail half the time. This was in a situation of sitting still and not having distractions, the opposite of combat. He didn't sit well with the feel of mako as it flowed into the materia and just couldn't seem to get the flow right with either lighting or ice. It was a bit confusing and I couldn't begin to understand _why_ he couldn't get it.

He finally relented and gave me back the materia. Not being one to be put off, he declared that he may not be able to use materia, but he could at least shoot better than me. I wasn't going to give him my gun to prove anything, even if he really was better than me. It had the sentimental factor of almost killing me and me having to fight for it. We managed this far without any problems. I did tease him about not having a gun and took out several enemies before he could even reach them. He seemed to finally understand the benefit of having both. At the guild mercenaries would special because they would usually group with others to cover their bases. There were plenty of fighting styles that you could see. Swordsman and marksman were the most common. Materia users were more rare.

After the impromptu teaching session I decided we should head back. Both of our mako was sluggish from the repeated spellcasting. I didn't plan on teaching him, it's just that a problem was put in front of me that I could work on, and hunting the same types of enemies was getting old. This was called the wastelands for a reason, hardly anything lived in them. It wouldn't do to wear myself out before the escape tonight. It was already late afternoon, not too much longer until we would've left anyways. We had a decent haul of monster parts. About as much as both of us could comfortably carry. Rilo was exceptionally curious about _why_ I wanted to head back so bad. Apparently I had a bit of a reputation in the slums about hunting monsters.

Most people thought of hunting monsters as a side job, at least in the city, so I was a bit strange doing it all time. I would also constantly go out early in the morning and work myself ragged. Pretty much doing it as a full time job. People must of thought I had a vendetta against the pest in sector 6 or something. I admit, I did push myself hard but I needed the crash course in order to learn to fight and survive.

I just told Rilo I had a bad feeling and that it would be a good idea to head back. I didn't realize how close that sounded to saying the planet told me until after it left my mouth. I shivered, I needed to watch what I said more. I thought he would question it, but strangely he accepted it at face value. Gut feelings were something that all slum dwellers treated with respect. Really it was absurd. We began the short walk back to the the plate city. We stayed within sight of it so it was very brief. I wouldn't chance missing something again.

We made it back with little fanfare. As we were walking up to the access gate I noted that the cameras whirred and focused in on us, but the guns underneath didn't fire so I shifted my focus. We had a pretty decent haul. Rilo estimated it might be worth several hundred gil. That is more than I ever made on a single hunting trip so It must've helped knowing how to properly disassemble the monsters for their parts. I was thankful that Rilo came along with me and appreciated his help. I didn't think that he would be bad to take on the Journey at all.

Rilo left to get things sorted at the guild when we passed the church for the second time that day. He would be selling the parts we got and then practicing like he normally does. Me, I'd be going back to the clinic to watch T.V until there's an update and the Sephiroth attack happens. It was just turning to evening, we hadn't been hunting for more than a handful of hours, but it felt much later than it really was. I was greeted by both blue haired siblings, Jonni, and a shy looking Malene sitting at the table talking.

"Vice!" Jakayo greets me as soon as he spots me. His clothes were somehow in tatters and muddy.

"What are you guys doing here? I wasn't expecting a party." I ask lightheartedly. They never really waited for me like this before, and it was starting to get late. They should be heading back soon so it must be something important.

"Marlene here wanted to tell you something." Tessa speaks up then lightly pushed Marlene in front of her. She did? Now that I thought about it, we never really spoke. I spoke _at_ her, but that doesn't really count. I nod, then focus in on Marlene. If she would make the effort I would meet her halfway.

"What do you have to say to me short stuff?" I grinned at her pout. I wasn't above using my height to tease others. I was taller than a lot of people, but not as tall as her dad. He was a beast. She fiddled with her pink dress and yellow bowtie trying to find the courage to talk. How old was she in the game? Four or so? It looked like it. I knew that she was incredibly mature for her age, but the fact that the teens were still hanging out with her and not ditching the 'baby' for other kids was testament to that fact. She tried several times to answer, gave up with a squeak, then hid behind Tessa. I was about to talk but Tessa held up her hand letting me know to wait. It didn't take me long to understand what she was getting at.

A small, quiet voice was heard from behind her back. "Thank you for introducing me to everybody. And I'm not short!" Jonni snickers, and that cascades to the other kids laughing.

I smiled. This was a nice, unexpected moment. I didn't need to contemplate helping out Marlene at all. It was something I would've done regardless and I felt the need to help her out. I had a feeling that Tessa somehow talked her into thanking me and was just being polite. Still it was appreciated that they went to the effort and waited for me to get back.

A sudden urge to say goodbye came over me. I would be leaving tomorrow on the Journey and wouldn't be back for quite a while. I had spent several months in Midgar, most of it with them. They were good friend and people.

I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Some shameful part of me was feeling that it would be easier if I just left without them knowing. I knew that was ridiculous, but I didn't just want to go out and say it directly. I settled with talking to them and sneaking in hints that I would be leaving soon. I also made the resolve to write a vague note when the 'gang' left. I could at least say bye to the Old Man in person, he was almost always here and I had no qualms about saying bye. He wouldn't overreact or try to get me to stay. Tessa caught on, the knowing look in her eyes gave her away, but she didn't say anything thankfully. Maybe she didn't know why I was acting strange. It was cowardly of me, but I was worried about disappointing them. I was never good at goodbyes. Even worse when things got confrontational and I didn't have a good excuse. I would feel horrible if the only answer I could give them was that I was going on a journey. A journey to where? For how long? With who? It was a lot of things that I would rather not explain, some of it I couldn't. They saw the news report and were shocked that Cloud and them came through, but none of them connected anything yet. I couldn't explain how I knew, I would feel worse lying to their face. No, this way was better for me

I still enjoyed talking to them and paid more attention than normal to their conversation. I even took the risk of not listening to the news while they were there. It would be rude and I could give them the time. I raptly listened to what the group did today and what they had been up to recently. Marlene was apparently a big thing around the camp. A second Aerith in the coming, everyone liked the adorable girl. She eventually opened up and told me about the people they met. Apparently the group had been bother the old AVALANCHE members for stories. Marlene wanted to hear _all_ the stories about her dad.

I was glad that she was having a good time in the camp and was connecting with more people. She was more social and open than me. But I couldn't see her diving into sector 6, she didn't have the attitude or drive for it. She was content with enjoying time at the camp. Nothing was wrong with that at all, but as Rilo's father said times are getting dangerous.

* * *

It was fairly late when it happened. 'Disturbance at Shinra HQ?' played across the screen before the feed ominously cut off in the middle of the report. The others had went home long ago and everything was prepared for my departure. The Old Man just gave a nod at my declaration of leaving. He seemed to know that what just happened on the news and me leaving correlated. Shinra public relations may not recover after news of this massacre spreads. I wasn't sure how long it would take Cloud and everyone else to leave, it couldn't be more than a few hours. They left at night, but got out of the city during the day. I couldn't risk missing this like I did the bombing missions so I would just have to spend the entire night camped out and come up with a reasonable excuse when the time comes and they leave the city.

I gathered my things and got ready to camp outside the city in front of the sector 7 gates. It was a quiet walk and I was focused on the things that were to come. I feeling nagged at me. I looked around but nothing was amiss. I shrugged, then continued the walk past the church to the access gate. I used my pass with no issue and began walking towards the point they would leave the city. They would use roads on the plate above to get to the wall by vehicle and then drop down. Specifically sector 7 access gate.

I was crouced in front of the sector 7 access gate, playing…practicing with my materia. I didn't think that meeting them here was one of my better ideas. What else was I supposed to do? The same thing and wait in Kalm or the next convenient location for a coincidental meetup? As if. They knew who I was and if they saw me outside of Midgar they would be even more suspicious. Maybe I could pose as a mercenary in another place. But I would have to get there before them and set up a network to find out _when_ they get there. I had no idea how to do that.

"Just how am I supposed to go about this?" I mused out loud. As if thinking out loud would help me at organize my thoughts.

I was getting lost in my thoughts, what would happen? How would they react? Questions that I could only guess at filled my thoughts. I was so entirely immersed that I barely noticed the presence behind me. I whirled around and drew both my daggers. It took me a second to realize what I was seeing.

"Oh, Rilo it's just you. Don't sneak up on me like that, I nearly had a heart attack." That was dangerous. What if he had been a Turk? I remembered back to the camera, they could've easily been watching, and was immediately glad that they had other things to deal with than me.

He levels a stare at me. "So this is where you went off to. For someone that wanted to be back before dark so bad this is a strange place to stay." He didn't sound accusatory at all so I relaxed. He wasn't trying to drag me back which helped a lot also. He still had his travel pack that he prepared earlier.

I just shrugged. Not really wanting to explain the situation I'm about to get myself in. It's already going to be hard without coming off as suspicious. No, it's going to be impossible. At least if Rilo was here then I would have the excuse that we were out hunting. Hopefully he would follow along.

The feeling of failure weighed down my good mood about finding a convenient excuse. That I was thinking of it like that probably means I'm doing it wrong. The idea was pretty far fetched and probably wouldn't hold to close scrutiny. Best to just explain that I came to go along with AVALANCHE. My best excuse would be to say that I saw the vehicle chase on T.V and guessed at where they were going to go.

Rilo crouches down beside me and looks at the materia in my hands jealousy. "What are you waiting out here for?" He asks.

I shrug again. "Something interesting." I would leave it at that. He seems to accept it, probably playing off my gut feeling earlier. No way would I ever say something ridiculous like that.

We share a companionable silence.

"You're leaving aren't you?" He asks out of nowhere. He continues on. "That's what you told everyone, that when you got to sector 7 you were going to make it out on your own. I didn't think you would mean like this. I mean I understand since there is no sector 7 anymore, but you can't just leave without saying goodbye to everyone."

"You can. Especially when you know you are coming back." His face lights up, then gets conflicted. I said goodbye to the few people I knew in midgar in my own way. I knew that the answer would satisfy him at least. It wouldn't be so bad honestly to leave without saying goodby. Everyone knew that I would be leaving the slums so it wouldn't come as a surprise.

"So are you going to stay out here staring at what's left of sector 7 all night? We could always head back home for the night. We don't _have_ to leave right away." He let the question hang in the air.

This is one of the most obvious crossroads life has ever presented to me. One of the biggest, most innocent lies also. There never was a home for me there. Sector 5 was my placeholder for Shinra, just like Aerith. I would be hunted down like a dog if I stayed. The file burned a hole in my side. I could easily ask Rilo to read it to me now. He would then understand everything without me having to explain. But I could never do that. This was _my_ problem. _I_ would deal with it.

I didn't want to talk about heading back, but he needed an answer about what we were going to do tonight.

"I'll be leaving when my group gets here. You can head home if you want to." I supplied. Just like how he gave me an out, I would give him one in turn.

He stared at me dumbly for a second. "You finally joined a mercenary group! That's great! Why didn't you say so earlier? What's your first mission?" He asks, getting progressively more excited.

In the distance, I could hear the hum of powerful engines approaching from a road on top of the plate. The ensuring boss battle against a giant Shinra machine would soon take place. Now, what is the best way to explain this to him.

"My first mission was to wait for them. They aren't _quite_ a mercenary company, but close enough. Now's the time to leave if you want to go back. I probably won't be coming back for quite a while." I answered, looking up at the direction of the approaching noise.

He looked up, finally noticing that something seemed to be going on. Something big. Then back down to where I was crouching. The sound of fighting could now be heard. Explosions, magic, and gunshots. It must be an exciting battle to watch, too bad I was down here with no way up. I noted the sound of lighting being used on the boss.

I stood up and started stretching. Spending that much time crouched down in the same position wasn't smart, I needed to pay more attention when I focus on a problem. I was too worried about the approaching conversation. I was nervous. I didn't want a repeat of our previous conversation and how that ended.

Eventually the sounds of battle quieted down. Rilo readied his sword and seemed tense. I just steeled myself for the upcoming conversation. A hook lowered itself over the edge and I readied to face them.

A red blur slammed into the ground, kicking up dust, and I found myself being bowled over. Rilo gave off a yell but a deep growl stopped him from doing anything. I was staring into red eyes and a mouth full of very sharp teeth. Sharper than the Kalm fangs at the least. The right eye had a scar over it. Suddenly the face was looming closer to mine.

"You," A deep voice that seemed to undertake a growl came from the teeth-inhabiting mouth. "smell suspicious." Red xiii growls out.

I'll admit. I almost pissed myself. Getting tackled by a massive, several hundred pound lion/wolf...red...thing with a glowing red tail scared the hell out of me. It didn't help that I knew Cloud and Co rescued him from Hojo. After the initial jolt my nerves calmed down and I began to think straight.

"Oh fuck it can talk." Rilo stammers out.

I shift my head to look at him shakily holding his sword out with a determined face. He wasn't backing down or running away with the introduction of a strong enemy. In fact his stance was solid and his legs steady.

He pauses for a second then starts talking in a shaky voice. "Uh...If you can talk, that means you can listen...Look, just let him go and nobody gets hurt. If there are any problems there are going to be...accidents, and I might just have to start breaking your legs." I wanted to groan. He must of learned that from the Don's goons. The fact that his voice was shaking ruined any intimidation that he was going for.

"I will do no such thing, not until my liberators decide what to do with you. It would be bad grace to kill children." Red xiii says from on top of me.

I bristled at that, and with a surge of mako pushed him off me just enough to roll out. Do I look like some giant child? I'm over 6 feet. I'm pretty sure he was too surprised to stop me from squirming out. He could've easily if he needed to.

Before he can retaliate I need to speak. My mind whirred. "Me and him are here for a reason! We don't mean any harm and aren't with Shinra!" I shout out. Everything seemed to pause.

Both Rilo and Red looked surprised at my declaration. Red freezes in a pouncing position and I gulp at narrowly avoiding another tackle. Another loud thump nearby giving away that we had more company that jumped down from the road. Thats a long drop, it makes sense how Red would jump having no hands. Must be mako enhancements. I looked at the rope hook and saw Barret shimmying down at a fast pace. Cloud stood up from his landing crouch and brushed the dust off his uniform, then looked at the commotion going on. His eyes locked onto mine.

"What're you doing here?" Cloud walks up behind the great cat putting his hand on him, holding him back. "Shouldn't you be in sector 5?" Just the sight of the cocky stance and arrogant tone he is taking annoys me. Being brushed off was still fresh on my mind.

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" I shoot back. Cloud scowls back at me.

"You guys are AVALANCHE!" Rilo sputters out. He saw the news it seems. He gets into a fighting stance. Nobody reacts to him like he is a threat.

Barret makes his way over to us, having slid the rest of the way down the rope. The big man could move quick.

"Damn right we are." He punches the air several times. "What're you doing here? You were right about getting to Shinra, helped us out a damn lot. We could use more of your help." Barret thanks me.I'm surprised, he is already asking me to go with them?

With a glance I see Aerith and Tifa are making their way down the rope. They should help me out. Maybe I should've tried to make better friends with Aerith, then I would have a childhood friend to get into the group like Cloud, but I don't know what I would've cause if I interacted with her too much. Too many unknown variables.

I step forward. "I'm coming with you guys then." I boldly declare.

"You're going with them Vice? They're terrorist!" Rilo protests.

"So what kid, you with Shinra or somthin?" Barret steps forward and puts a hand on his gun arm. Rilo pales even further realizing his situation and quickly lowers his sword. Three of the faces were plastered on the T.V screen all day yesterday, there was no way that he didn't know who they are and what kind of damage they can cause.

"Who even says you can come with us?" Cloud interjects.

Red just looks confused if his agitated tail is any indication. Each time someone speaks his head would dart to look at them. He seemed intrigued at what is playing out and sniffed the air curiously.

I want to say _so much more._ Argue, fight, scream that not letting me go would be the worst mistake they could make. I could help them in ways they wouldn't believe. It wouldn't help my case creating a scene. I wouldn't start anything, but by god I would finish it. Scotch can attest to that. Tifa and Aerith make their way over trying to see what's going on. A gasp is heard from Aerith.

"Rilo! What are you doing here?" She makes her way over to him. Rilo visibly relaxes at the sight of her, but now seems even more confused.

"Rilo! It's good to-"

She stops mid stride and slowly turns her head towards me with something strange in her eyes. Almost like...fear. She flinches when we make eye contact and takes a step back behind Cloud. She grabs onto him and presses up against him. That's...not a good sign, what brought that on? I looked down at myself, a few blood stains but nothing as bad as what she must of saw at Shinra HQ after the massacre.

This whole situation went south fast. What could I of done differently? Was it because we didn't talk enough during the slums? I was starting to regret my single minded drive to learn how to fight that I took.

Barret thankfully stepped in. "Shit before we decide anything we need a group leader before we set out. We need to meet in Kalm and prepare there. Course only me could be the leader. I think we should take him." He says with a confident grin.

Tifa smirks, shoots a look at cloud, then grimaces seeing Aerith clinging onto him. "You think so Mr. Charge in through the front door?"

Aerith sticks her head from around Cloud to get a good look at Barret. "It's going to be Cloud." She firmly states, then gets back out of my sight. I was confused by her actions. Was she scared of me? What was the cause of her odd behavior?

Red xiii take this opportunity to speak up. It still amazed me that he could with his non-human mouth. "It makes no difference to me. I will be traveling with the group until I reach my hometown in Cosmo Canyon." His tail flicks out as if to punctuate that statement.

"Cloud, we talked about this. He and his friend could be a big help." Tifa worriedly says. She noticed something that I didn't about him. Rilo paled at the possibility of being included in the terrorist group. He grew up on Shinra propaganda, how could Shinra be the bad guy?

Cloud looks at me and _smirks_. "Looks like I get to decide then." I clench my fist so hard that blood is drawn, but no other tells of how livid I was. He was purposely pissing me off. I was aggravated that it was working. He was _toying_ with me. I didn't miss Aerith's grip on him tighten and his quick glance back. Aerith whispered something into his ear and he nodded. "I say you can't kid. Look, I know you don't want to hear it, but all of us got nowhere else to go and we can't go back. You can. You can't just throw away your life following us around. We will be doing dangerous things."

"I know!" I ground out. "I can help. Don't make the mistake of not taking me Cloud Strife." He pauses at the mention of his last name. Probably thinking if he gave it to me or not. I was playing a dangerous game.

Tifa saves me from any awkward conversation. "Cloud! What's your problem? You aren't going to take him because of what she said? What about what we talked about?" Tifa gets confrontational with him and I can't help but smile. Cloud seems to freeze up at the mention of what his problem is, then shakes his head and clears his thoughts. If this were a game it would be a flashback, or words popping up in his head. Jenova cells at work.

"No we aren't going to take him. I'll explain later Tifa. I'll explain _everything_ when we get to Kalm. We need to go after Sephiroth." He states. I clenched my fist even _tighter._

"His twig ass helped us before in sector 7. I don't blame him for leaving when things got dangerous, but he knew things. I say we just take him. You won't see me stopping him from helping us take down Shinra bastards." Barret defends me.

" **No.** " Cloud firmly states. "If I'm going to be leader then there can't have any second guessing my calls. We need to get to Kalm like Barret said." He looks at each member steadily until he receives some form of confirmation. Tifa hesitates, then nods. Barret sighs and lowers his head. Red just looks confused but nods. "Just head back to Midgar Vice. We don't need you." Cloud finalizes. I was too stunned to say anything.

"Fuck,...sorry Vice but you heard the man. Keep Marleen company." With Barret's words something clicked and then my fingers were bent at odd angles. _Babysitting duty._ The pain was dulled by my anger. They rejected me? Blood started to pool in my shaking, clenched fist. They were right, they didn't need me. They would've been fine without me. I needed _them_ to get what I wanted. The file burned like an everlit fire in my mind.

What kind of person is rejected by the main cast of the video game they were living in? By Aerith no less. Just _what_ the _fuck_ was that about? What did I do to her? It was like the universe was truly trying to reject my presence in the world. I worked _**so**_ hard to get to this point. So fucking hard. I wouldn't just give up because of this setback. Time started to get strange as I thought about how I was going to get them back. I told them, _they_ _would regret not taking me._ They would struggle ahead while I knew what was coming. It would be a waste _not_ going with what I knew and could put into practice.

The group talked some more. Finalizing their plans and sending me uneasy glances. I just stood there shaking trying to contain myself and thinking, and failing, of ways to convince them. Words were said to me but I didn't hear them. I focused fully on what I wanted. I wouldn't doubt if I creeped them out just standing there silently for who knows how long. Time was strange. All I could measure it by was my fluctuating, rapid heartbeat, even that seemed off. They ended up leaving quickly, not looking back.

What did I want? I wanted to figure out how I got here and if there was a way back. I obviously wasn't wanted here. That was always what I wanted since coming into this world. I had a goal. It would be be harder without the group, but fuck them, I didn't need them. I knew enough about this world, what I wanted to know about was _**me.**_ I wasn't putting my hopes on finding a way back, I wasn't naive, but I could find out who was the cause of this fucked up scenario I was in and work from there. I unclenched my hand and took a deep breath. The pain was starting to set in and I circulated mako in my hand to speed up the healing process.

"Uhh...Vice, are you okay?" Rilo asks. Something about me was unnerving him.

I sigh calming myself. "I'm going to Kalm." I say, my voice sounds strange and talking is hard. Things didn't work out my way, but I'll work around it. I will find a way. If Rilo want's to come with me I wouldn't stop him. I wouldn't reject him, especially after the same thing happened to me. I had been taking things easy. Putting my hopes on the others when the person I should've been relying on is me.

Time to change that.


	12. Chapter 10- Harried Headway

AN- So I plan to do a revision (major touch up) at 100k words which should be around Junon. Let me know what you guys think of everything so far by reviews or PM. Ideas are also appreciated. The earlier chapters were a bit rough and could probably use more dialogue to help lighten the mood and make everything a bit more comprehensible, but it is Midgar so I'll be leaving the grittiness untouched. I probably could've handled a lot of things better honestly. This is the stretch where things get a lot less dark and I start flushing things out. Enjoy!

* * *

I set a brutal pace. I wasn't seeing red, but I was pushing myself harder than I had any reason to. My upper body burned and ached deeply. I pushed faster than I ever had before. There never was the opportunity to test myself on flat open ground like this, so I was set on finding me limit. Better than stewing in my thoughts about what happened. The rocky landscape seemed to blur past as my feet slapped against the ground. Chunks of dirt and small rocks flew up in my wake with each stride. I pushed myself till exhaustion was the only thing on my mind, then past that. It was stupid to tire myself out like this with monsters around, but damn it, I needed to wear myself out.

I never handled rejection well. Especially if there wasn't a clear reasoning behind it. I would constantly think about it and work myself until I was frustrated and not thinking clearly. I had my suspicions that something like this might happen ever since I wasn't taken on the Shinra HQ attack, so I wasn't caught totally unaware. Reality is cold and harsh. It's always been and it hits hardest when you don't expect it, so expecting the worst means being being able to roll with the punches when things go south. Thankfully I was just frustrated with the outcome. The running was helping get the frustration out. No, I wasn't one to run away from problems, this was me getting my head straight.

Rilo was keeping pace with me. He was worse off than I was currently, but the fact that he stayed with me made my respect for him go up considerably. I didn't like what happened and needed to wear myself out and get the frustration I was feeling out. It was building up inside of me like a physical pressure. Everything that I had been working towards seemed to fall apart in my hands and I wanted to know why.

No, there was a reason it all happened. Aerith's premonition telling her something was off about me. I didn't like it and she didn't really give an opportunity for me to prove myself thinking back. To think it all could've been avoided if I was just more sociable. It was absurd. Alright, so I may not be the best person at it but there shouldn't be a way she for sure knows that. It doesn't work like that.

I stop running. Both Rilo and me immediately bend down struggling to regain breath. We both suck in air with raspy, quick breaths. I take a look around as I catch my breath, if anything had been following us it would attack now. There was little light that the moon was giving off, just enough to see by, but the area looked clear enough. More light than what was available in the slums at night made things easier.

I stand and face Rilo. He was still hunched down and his hair was covering his eyes. His clothes were drenched in sweat just like mine. He had stuck with me when anytime he could've left to head back to Midgar. He did witness me trying to join a terrorist organization after all. I would be hard pressed to make the same choice. "Hey...Rilo..." I gasped out while trying to catch my breath, taking a second then finally manage to satisfy my lungs. "Thanks...thanks for staying with me." I give him a tired smile while trying to calm down. "You really didn't have to." We both took another moment to pant and recover.

I needed to let him know how much I appreciated this. He would help a lot with things to come and frankly things would be better with another person. I also needed to remind myself that I was now a part of this world, whether it wanted me to be or not. I couldn't act like Vincent and lock myself away and just let life go by. No, I wouldn't let this predicament get to me. Now that I had the chance to let out my frustration I realized that I could work around not joining the party. I knew where to go and what to do. People would kill for that opportunity in life. I would have to muster everything that I learned and work past this.

Rilo also stands up. "It's no problem, I could keep up after all. I've got to stick with you, it'd only be fair with how you helped me out." He grimaced. "Besides, you seem to always be in some kind of trouble, that means things should be more interesting around you anyways. Don't dissapoint me." He gives off a clipped laugh, then his face turns serious, almost hard. "Dad said you shouldn't go running off by yourself and that the best journeys are ones shared with other people you trust to watch your back and willing to fight beside you. I trust what he says and I trust you. The world is a lot more dangerous than you think, it needs more people who try to help out." Those were the exact words his father spouted at me while I was visiting the guild. He also trusted me of all people. What went unspoken was that the best journeys were the ones you come back from. I didn't know what to say to that.

How do you respond to someone telling you all that? "Once again, thanks for following me. I'll try to not get us lost." I say somberly while giving off a small chuckle. His words were touching and confusing, I wasn't quite sure what he saw. Why would he follow me? I wasn't a person who would go into a situation to help unprepared. No hero. I was bitter and always unsatisfied, pushing myself and others to do and be better. The few times that I wasn't, I expect things to go wrong or for the other shoe to drop. A bastard cynic. Having shitty luck does that to a person. I am aware of it at the least, I work on it.

I shuffle a little, trying not to let my embarrassment show. "Here would be a good place as any to camp. We should settle down for the night and get some rest." I say. He nods and prepares setting up camp with practiced motions. Something I was envious of. He really did have experience outside of the city. I take the opportunity to crouch down and think about what comes next.

Next is Kalm. We would be making it there the next day, but wouldn't be staying long. I had an advantage of information over the party that I would take brutal advantage of. I knew things about this world that they didn't, at least not yet. Things that they couldn't know about. I wouldn't have to capture a chocobo to cross the swamps. I would be taking a hidden mountain trail giving me possible days on them. I knew tips and tricks, just assorting them to real life would be hard. They would regret not bringing me along. I would make them see it when I was always a step ahead of them, taunting them. A message here, a warning there, it would help them and they would be forced to acknowledge me. To make them admit that I knew what I was doing.

I took a deep breath trying to recover from the long run, then another to calm and organize my thoughts. I knew the steps needed to follow the plot, but I was having trouble finding a reason on why I would do it right now. My goal to find out about myself would most likely revolve around Hojo. To meet him I would need to go to Junon and take a ship to Costa del Sol, just like the group. Basically follow the plot for now. I wouldn't know how to get at Hojo without avoiding a fight. He has that syringe that turns him into a super boss when he feels threatened, something I had no hope of beating currently. Maybe I could steal it, but that's a bit too risky for my taste. At the very least he seemed privy to enjoying his vacation at the resort town and open to talking to the others. I would ask then. I would need to know more about the file before that times comes. That would mean learning to read.

Better to stick to the script and get ready for the trouble ahead then. I would deal with the worst things when they come up, along with what I would do after. The issue of not being with the group still stands. There would be several instances where I would need them to progress if I were to continue past the resort town. Having to rely on others was a harsh truth in this world, something I didn't like. I would like to think I'm prideful enough where it doesn't bother me, but having to learn to read all over again aggravated me. I would need to rely on someone then, probably RIlo, to help me learn.

I was glad someone was coming with me. I would've been fine being alone, it's just the kind of person I am, but being with someone else set my mind at ease. Knowing that there was someone to help fight and travel with helped my paranoia and wouldn't make this journey tense and fry my nerves. I didn't know Rilo that well, but here was my chance to change that since we would be spending a lot of time together. I wouldn't reject him like the way I was by Cloud. He wanted to go on this journey for his own reasons, I wouldn't question them. I idly start fiddling with my knives.

That set my thoughts to other things about the future. Yuffie would be easy to convince if I could find her. Vincent was up in the air. I didn't know where the ninja girl was in the world, but I would look for her near Junon with my time ahead of the group. The ship to Costa del Sol wouldn't leave until shortly after the group gets to Junon, the Shinra port city. That should take about two weeks for them. I didn't think at all that me and the main group would be separated like this for long. I planned on making it plenty obvious that I would be a step ahead of them and knew what I was doing. They would eventually come to me. Barret and Tifa already wanted me to join. Aerith had come before and hopefully the others could ease whatever worries she had about me. She wouldn't be like this for long hopefully. I couldn't tell if she was acting rationally or irrationally. Is getting feedback from the planet a rational source to get information to base your choices?

"Everything is ready for the night Vice. Who gets first watch?" Rilo asks, dragging me out of my train of thought. With a start I realized that I was the leader of our little group, I would be the ones calling the shots about where we go. I looked at him and he looked worn down from our run. Even with the small amount of time we had to recover he still seemed haggard. I made up my mind just looking at his current state.

"I'll keep watch for the rest of the night." I decided for him easily.

He was stunned for several seconds after processing what I said. "That's not fair! We should split it evenly." Rilo protests. He had a good point, it would be easier on the both of us if we were to split it evenly. I couldn't allow that. I was the one who pushed us to run throughout a good portion of the night for no good reason. I wasn't sure how long we ran, but I was bone tired. He deserved this rest, and frankly I didn't. It was slightly self-deprecating, but I wanted more time to sort out my thoughts and calm myself. I was too old to be throwing tantrums about not joining the cool kids at their lunch table.

What would be the best way to get him to agree? "No, the world isn't fair." I thought back on how I wasn't allowed to join the main cast and all the other problems that have plagued me even before. "It's my fault that we're both so tired so I'll be the one to take responsibility. You can have first watch tomorrow and we'll both sleep early. Fair enough?" I reasoned out.

He seemed to mull it over. "Fine." He grumbles out. He didn't look happy, but he looked too tired to argue.

He went to sleep in his tent without any more protest. On the bright side I at least wouldn't have to unpack my tent. I kept vigilant watch throughout the night and got to work fashioning knives from the Kalm fangs. They looked like the prehistoric weapons you see in museums, but they worked. I only had several and they were crude but they were balanced to a reasonable level and sharpened. I idly wondered why I was making new knives when I now had a gun and materia, then shook off the doubting thought. It was always better to be as prepared as you can in a world where seemingly everything wants to kill you.

For one brief instant I debated leaving Rilo in the middle of the night. We would be going up against crazy, ridiculous odds and he wasn't as prepared as I was for the storm. No gun, no stockpile of drugs, and can't use materia. Things weren't looking in his favor at the moment. I discarded the thought of leaving him. I wouldn't...No. I couldn't leave someone that would put so much effort into going with me. He left everything behind for an opportunity to leave Midgar and go on a journey. That's a huge decision that takes a lot of thought and willpower to follow through on, even if he doesn't realize it. I already reasoned it out that it would be better if he stayed with me.

With dull, tired eyes I watched the sun creep up the rocky horizon.

Now that it was light out I could see we were about to enter the grasslands. We had pushed almost all the way to the edge of the wasteland throughout the night. I was expecting us to get attacked more, especially considering the time, but it seems that things can't live near Midgar with the mako sucked from the earth. We could've traveled for hours without getting confronted. The only reason we found so many monsters near the city was because we were looking for them. Rilo knew what signs to look for and followed them to our prey. Much, much different than sector 6 where enemies seemed to be around every corner.

I hadn't felt any different from the lack of mako in the wastelands. Humans needed very little to survive apparently. A small ambient presence is about all that's needed. We are creatures that mainly rely on food, much like whole eaters. It helps that a lot of our food has mako inside of it. I paused with the thought. Could humans get stronger just from eating things with mako in it? Much like gaining resistance to poisons by ingesting a small amount at a time. I mean it's called mako poisoning, so theoretically it could be true. I did know that exposure times and concentration had a big part to play in mako poisoning, but not much else.

In fact, falling into the mako pool in sector 6 didn't lead to anything bad or long lasting. There was the initial burning but that was it. That turned my next thoughts to what exactly happened there. I knew that limit breaks were a burst of mako from the body to do something crazy, but was it my natural limit break or was it some strange interaction with the amount of mako around me. I thought back on the gesture I used. Where had I seen it before. It was so familiar, I felt like I was missing something. Something obvious. I thought about it and realized what I was looking for, sending a shock down my back. Alps. It was the same gesture that the troll boss used to control the water in the sewer system. What kind of interaction was that? Did I just copy it from him?

I started to poke Rilo and stopped when he got up groaning. He mumbled out a barely coherent good morning and I returned the greeting. It was time to wake up with the rising sun, and time to answer some questions I had! I let him get up and take care of his business while I worried about just what happened at the sector 6 fight.

I wait until he gets back. He was rubbing sleep from his eyes when I hit him with the question. "Hey, uh, Rilo, what do you know about limit breaks? Your dad has got to of told you something about them." I ask, trying not to let my apprehension reach my voice.

He blinks, rubs his eyes, then groans. "Aww c'mon, let me at least eat first before you start asking me questions first thing in the morning. It's too early for this." He grumbles.

I concede to his request and pull out food from my knapsack for the both of us. It's dried packaged food that I think is chocobo jerky. The mystery meat is decidedly good and chewy. I wondered if our lack of fruit would be a problem to our health in the future. I had been fine so far living off of monster parts and cheap food inside the sunless city. I should be fine, I accompanied it to mako being bullshit. We both eat in silence with the sun and temperature steadily rising. He finishes his food first then gets up and starts packing his things to leave while explaining limit breaks to me.

He takes a moment to think about what to say, then shrugs as if giving up. "What do you want to know?" He asks.

"What are limit breaks. What kind of stuff can they do?" I ask. His eyes perk up at the chance to explain something that he probably thinks is cool.

He jumps right into the explanation. "From what I remember it's the buildup of mako in the body. Usually in organs where mako isn't used or filtered out easily." He says while breaking down his tent. "Pancreas, kidneys, gallbladder, liver, and sometimes stomach linings. Really in most of the smooth muscles. The older or more exposed you are, the more tolerance you build to the accumulation of mako inside the body. That's why a lot of the older mercenaries are crazy strong and fast." He explains while stuffing things into his bag.

He continues on fully facing me. "Limit breaks are the release of all of the unneeded mako in the body that isn't being used." He sounds like he's reciting something, or repeating what someone told him. "Mako is kind of crazy and does strange things when it's let out all at once like that. It usually latches on to nearby things, people, or objects. I once threw my sword and it came back to me, it was the coolest thing and nobody believes that I did it. Most of the time it just makes people stronger for a few brief seconds, but other weird things can happen. I heard that someone once shot lasers out of their eyes, but that might just be people making things up. That's about all that I remember." He finishes and gives a shrug. He seemed animated to talk about fighting. I hadn't put much thought into him fighting, he actually found it fun.

Much different than my thoughts on it.

I hum, putting the information away in the back of my mind. So it was a case of mako being weird as hell that happened to me. That's good, and made me feel a hell of a lot better. It wasn't anything that I didn't already know, but the confirmation was nice. It finally made sense how some limit breaks were stronger than others if the tolerance for more mako in the body went up with constant use. Was it possible to control what the limit break did like Cloud and everyone else in the game? It probably is with lots of practice and control of mako flow. I saw Tifa do her signature beat rush while attacking Shinra HQ lobby. She was a 'normal' human and seemed to know what she was doing so it should be possible. Mako sure did have some strange properties.

The buildup probably came from eating things, mako enhancements, and maybe even using materia. Basically everything incorporating fighting. It made sense on why it was so uncomfortable to hold onto the enhancements. I had gotten used to using them in short efficient burst, but would it make my tolerance go up if I really pushed myself? I never used it for more than several seconds at a time. In fact, I just used it to empower what I needed and just about nothing else. I'd have to consciously try to not be efficient with it and flood more in on the jog to Kalm.

I nod towards him. "Thanks a lot for explaining that to me. I've been meaning to ask for help about that for a good bit now. I was kind of worried about it, but now not so much." I give off a relieved laugh. "We should probably head out soon. The day is waiting after all." I was itching to try out pushing myself. Would it build up the limit break, or would it make me stronger? The burn would be unpleasant but I could live with it if it meant finding out.

Rilo gives me a curt nod. "No problem at all. If you need help with anything else, just ask." He offers. Now that I think about it there was something else that I wanted. Something he could help with. I was a bit reluctant to ask, but did it after working up the courage. We were both standing up and ready to start the journey but I needed to ask this.

"Actually, do you think you could teach me how to read." I sheepishly ask. I rub the back of my head, an easy sign of my discomfort asking the question. That it bothered me so much and showed spoke volumes.

He blinks heavily and slowly, taken aback by my question. "You don't know how to read?" I give him a glare, letting him know it was a sensitive subject. "Uhh, right I guess I can do it, I did offer to after all. Well, do you have anything to read or write with so we can get started?"

Now it was my turn to blink stupidly. Besides the file, no, I didn't have anything. Oops. "No I don't, but we can pick something up when we get to Kalm. We should be getting there in a couple of hours anyways. Want to leave now?" I ask. I was ready to get my day started.

Rilo nods eagerly, also ready to get a move on. We shouldn't see any devil rides on the way to Kalm now that we were out of the wastelands and the Shinra machines patrolling the landscape randomly wouldn't bother us either. There was still going to be hobgoblins and Kalm fangs that we might run into. It shouldn't be a problem if it does happen. They were small fries in the large scheme of things. I still had plenty of ammunition and my materia to take care of them. I probably wouldn't even break a sweat. I was prepared for the Journey ahead.

"Alright, let's head out then." I declare.

We gathered up our things and took off in the direction of Kalm.

* * *

My idea of pushing myself with mako enhancements was a horrible, horrible idea. If I thought that the burn from holding it for several seconds was bad, the absolute agony that came from holding it for minutes at a time made my head swim. I couldn't hold the enhancements in the same place for long and had to switch the areas I enhanced constantly. I had to take potions just to be able to move properly. It was like an intense, full-body workout lasting for hours, in fact. I'm pretty sure most of my muscles tore from the strain and pressure. Everything was cramping while pain shot up my legs with each step. Thankfully the potions helped with the recovery, but I felt like they got less effective over time and was uncomfortable burning through our supply. Almost as if I was building up a resistance to the healing drug.

As soon as I stepped foot in Kalm I cut off the constant mako flow I had maintained. Instantly, an invisible pressure went away from my mind and I collapsed in a tired, sweaty pile on the ground. I laid down gasping for air and numbly realized people were staring and murmuring. I was causing a scene laying out under the hot morning sun.

Rilo wasn't sure what to make of my struggle on the way to the town. I told him I was exercising and he tried it for a bit, but gave up after it was clear I would be useless in any fights we came across. The two Kalm fangs we came across on the way here Rilo had to fight by himself. I had to catch my breath before I could even manage to bring my gun to bear on the enemies. By then the fight was over and Rilo had several scratches, but effectively took them down, then taking off after skinning them.

I couldn't imagine having to go through with this to build up a better tolerance. Rilo was giving me strange looks and so was the gathering crowd. Who goes to the point of collapse when traveling through monster infested territory? I couldn't help but sigh then push myself off the ground. While it might help, it just wasn't smart to push myself that hard when we had things to fight. The crowd started to lose interest when they realized I didn't have any important news to give.

Now that my mind wasn't clouded with pain I took a moment to properly look around. Kalm was the size of a very small town, but what caught my interest was the town square. An exact replica as depicted in the game. Rustic architecture, tower in the center, and paved roads. There were even some people milling around in the equivalent spots that NPC's were. I recognized the buildings and streets, but nowhere else outside the center of the small town. None of the other streets or houses were shown in game, but there honestly wasn't much outside of the center. Strange, why was this and several other things depicted the exact same way, but not sector 7? Very, very interesting to think about. Also very aggravating because I knew there would be no way for me to find out.

Me and Rilo worked out what we would do here during our short stay. Rilo would get some supplies that he needed. He was excited to go on this trip, but didn't have enough food or water for the long term. He would also get things he needed to teach me how to read. Papers to write with and books to read. After that he would wait in the bar so we could meet up and head out.

I would venture into the city and grab the things I needed. There were several hidden items that should be here. Was it really hidden if they were inside people's home? It would also be good to visit the materia, item, and weapon shops. Together we had about 2000 gil, it wasn't much, but we didn't need anything major from this town. We would make more making our way to the next location, the mythril mines. We split it half way each, then went our separate ways.

I wandered past the inn and idly looked up. Cloud and his merry band should be up there talking about the Nibelheim incident. The incident were Sephiroth went crazy and destroyed the town. It would take up most of the day, me and Rilo would be long gone by then. It was much like the time Aerith's mom told the group about her special heritage. I knew about it and didn't want to sit in on a conversation where I knew everything. I understand Cloud's need to convey why they should follow Sephiroth to the rest of the others, I just didn't want to be a part of it.

I turned away from the inn and went deeper into the center of Kalm. There wasn't much I could buy that I needed. I desperately wanted all the materia, but my wallet was telling me otherwise. We were well supplied on items, we didn't really need much there. The only other places of interest were the weapons and materia shop.

The materia and weapon shops were located up a pair of steps, situated over the bar. They were connected and split the room in half. It felt more like a showroom than an actual store. Everything was kept in neat display cases and looked well maintained. An aging woman perked up when I walked in.

"Good morning! We usually don't get many kids your age! It's good to see a fresh face around here, usually just grumpy old men like my husband over there." The older, wrinkly faced woman giggles at her husband's displeasure. She was behind the materia counter with several materia orbs put on display behind her. "So what can I do for you today?"

I browsed her wares and looked at what was labeled. Earth, bio, heal, restore, and sense. Not a lot of selection, and not even the conventional attack materia. They still looked so juicy sitting inside the display cases, just out of reach. There was no steal materia at all strangely. My drive to find discrepancies was urging me to find out, it was sold in game.

"Do you have any steal materia?" Both her, and her husband tense up at my question. Her husband reaches for something underneath the counter. I was immediately put on guard.

"Are you looking to buy some?" She looks nervous, but not overtly hostile.

My eyes dart in between the both of them, looking to see who would make the first move. "Yes?"

She visibly relaxes at my confused answer. "Kid, you can't just go asking for shady materia like that." She lets out a sigh.

Her husband swears but doesn't remove his hands from beneath the counter. He then addresses her. "Causing all kinds of worry and stress. I put 5 gil he's too stupid to realize what's wrong." The weapon store owner grumbles from across the room.

I bristled at that, but it didn't make me fully realize what I did wrong. Something to do with it being shady materia? It was just a simple command materia, but the bad reputation associated for using it to steal. The materia was literally called steal, of course it's probably something that isn't used to hunt monsters usually. Yeah, I can see how she wouldn't broadcast it in her store. Especially how they would be wary of the people who ask for it specifically.

She priced it at 1200 gil and told me to keep my mouth shut about it. The price was just slightly over the amount that I had, which was a bit worrying. I would need to part with some of my medicine to afford it. It would be a risky move, something could always happen to our stockpile and we would be left without anything to heal wounds. I opted to get a restore materia in Junon, despite having no backup plan. Steal wasn't sold there in the game or any near locations, so this would be my only opportunity to acquire it for quite some time.

If there was one materia I would need, it would be this. Equipping it gives a stat boost to dexterity, something I needed if I wanted to fight more effectively. I also wanted to see how it would translate over. I already own sense, the other command materia sold here, and it's helped me tremendously. I had plenty of attack materia and plenty of medicine. The investment would be worth it. I already knew that you didn't need steal to get items from monsters, so what would this materia do? I wanted to find out.

With that decided I sold several potions until I had enough. I'd have to be more careful about taking hits in the near future with no easy way to resupply potions. She told me to keep the materia hidden while in town. I couldn't feel anything just by holding the materia, and I felt like it would get me shot if I activated it at this moment with the glares her husband is sending me.

I glanced over at the weapons store and the man sitting behind it. He wasn't as wrinkled and wore a cap with a strange eyepiece attached to it. Looked like it was used to examine things. Exotic weapons lined the wall. Muskets, pikes, giant pistols, hammers, and even the cannonball that Barrett could equip. No sign of any knives at all. I'd probably have better luck raiding a kitchen for weapons at this point.

I sigh with my gaze lingering on the wall. It would be nice to have conventional equipment and armor. The constant gil problem couldn't be avoided. It could be mitigated by selling the things that we find or hunting monsters on the way to the next location. With that decided I went towards a familiar looking house near the staircase leading to the shops.

I gingerly knocked on the door. Everyone seemed friendly in the town so far. There was none of the paranoia that came from living in the slums or hostility to strangers.

I hear shuffling inside. "Hello?" I called out.

"Oh? Company this early?" The door swings open and I'm looking down at a mousey looking girl with brown hair and strange clothes. Puffy looking t-shirt and purple pants. "You look much more friendly than that man wearing the black cloak I saw earlier. You still look suspicious though." A small smile plays out on her face. "Come on inside so we can talk."

I was tentative about doing this. The stuff inside these houses could be used to better prepare for the journey ahead. But they were inside the houses. As in already having an owner. As in me having to go inside and talk with people. This wasn't like the cover materia I found hidden in Aerith's flower field. I wouldn't steal from regular people, so I would have to ask.

Her house was very homey and felt lived in. It wasn't terribly big, but the amount of wood boggled my mind. In fact the whole town did. How was it built out of wood when it was so expensive in Midgar? The economics of it made no sense. It was only a day away! Everything seemed in good repair. The disparity was just too much. She sat me down and took a seat across from me in this living room.

I cleared my throat. Trying to figure the best way to put this. "I've heard that you've got a couple things you'd like to trade for. Some things that I could really use for my journey to Junon." Best to sound like I know what I'm doing.

She starts to prepare some tea on her small stove."Oh, you know you'd have to go through the mines to get there? Lots of nasty things have been happening ever since the Midgar Zolom moved in. And what could you possibly want? Are strangers coming from all over Gaia now to try my cooking now?" She asks with a sly smile.

I chuckle at that. "Actually, I think you have a gun I could use, and a guard source. But now you have me curious about the food." I say.

She cocks her head to the side as if remembering something. "Oh those old things? I don't really have a use for them now that I spend all my time raising my kids, but I'm willing to part with them cheap. A couple potions or some gil should be enough. A potion would help the kids out a lot more than all my old gear." She nods as if confirming the deal herself. "Yeah, that sounds like a fair deal, plus you'd help clear out the mines so my husband can finally stop complaining about not having work." I was surprised. This youngish looking girl in front of me didn't seemed like a retired mercenary. Maybe mako helped retain some of the youth?

I managed to trade for a mean looking pistol and a small jar of strange liquid for the Kalm fang pelts we acquired on the way over to Kalm and two potions. I stayed for a bit longer and paid close attention when she told me how to fix and maintain it, I would need to be repeat this to Rilo. Our stockpile was now uncomfortably low on potions after this trade, I was down to two and Rilo should have about six or seven left. Things would get a lot more dangerous at the mines and I didn't want to be caught unprepared. We should be fine if we prepared correctly. The monsters on the way to the mines have potions that can be dropped. I wasn't sure how that would happen exactly, but the game hasn't deviated too much so far.

I asked her about several things in the surrounding area or any tips. She mentioned how the monsters were constantly lured by tranquilizers and hypers because of their affinity with them and that sometimes they would have undigested medicine in them. When I asked her about the man in the black cape she sobered up, losing her friendly smile. She told me to stay away and avoid him. I thanked her profusely for her time and help, which she just waved off. She was content in Kalm and was willing to help out strangers any way she could.

When I went to the other two houses the residents were much more unfriendly towards me. They weren't willing to part ways with their stockpiled ethers. In fact they seemed suspicious of me for even knowing that they had anything in their homes. The old man almost sicced his dog on me because I seemed suspicious. Now that's more of what I was used to. I didn't need the ethers that were housed there. I always made sure not to expend too much mako during fights with spells, to always save some for a retreat. I would use less now that I acquired a ranged weapon for Rilo. All it would've been to me was extra gil.

I looked at my find. Peacemaker. A revolver with a ridiculous sized barrel. Almost four feet in total. It seemed more like a pistol musket that some crazy gun-nut cooked up in his basement. There was no mistaking that this gun would do damage. I was given some ammo with the gun, but not enough to realistically matter. Rilo would have to buy more, hopefully he didn't spend everything like I did. I figured now was a good time as any to go to our meetup spot.

Walking there I took out the guard source and chugged it with my fingers crossed. I braced for a horrific taste but instead it was...fruity. A pleasant taste that filled me up. There was no feeling of becoming stronger or anything overtly obvious. It was slightly disappointing and underwhelming. I made my way towards the bar underneath the walkway, through a tunnel, feeling suspicious looks on my back the entire way. I had gone house to house asking for specific things. Of course people would take notice.

The bar smelled musty walking in, the alcohol just barely surpassing it. There were several people milling around, which was unusual because it was still early in the day. Must be the out of work miners then.

Rilo waved me down. "Are we ready to go?" The anticipation was radiating off of him, he was almost bouncing in place. Several patrons turned to us, curious eyes flickering over us and our gear.

I nod. I wasn't comfortable discussing everything in a public place like this. I remembered his dad guessing that the farm owners might have possible plants in Kalm, any one of these people could be under his thumb. I'd rather keep out of the attention of someone that powerful. It could be the Don all over again if I didn't play things carefully.

We eased ourselves out. Rilo chatting amicably about the things that he learned at the bar. The Midgar Zolom, the mythril mines infestation, the man in the black cloak. All old news to me. The miners told him stories about things happening around the area for the big things that happened in Midgar recently. I knew something was strange was going on when I saw one of them writing everything down. I wanted to get out of there before we got roped into anything.

We made our way out of the city. I glanced up again as we passed by the inn, but there was no way to tell that the group were up there. I wonder what part of the story they were at, it was still fairly early in the day so it couldn't of been too far into it. I knew Sephiroth was nearby, which was worrying in it's own right, but I was exceptionally nervous about the JENOVA cells and the mess that entailed. Was JENOVA traveling with him? It was all very worrying to think about. The only way I would know if it would be a problem later was if I read my file.

We made good time outside of Kalm. I didn't push myself and Rilo was ecstatic about the new weapon. We blew through any opposition and he started to get acquisitioned to the firearm very fast. I hadn't brought out or messed with the new materia yet because I wanted to focus on making good time to our next location.

Luckily Rilo still had plenty of gil left after buying his necessary materials. I got an earful from him about spending my share so fast and so early into the journey. We faced no new enemies, though that would change soon with the approach of the chocobo farm. There weren't any problems the entire day of traveling. Eventually we found a good place to spend the night and set up camp early. Rilo started teaching me with the simple words that he drew up on a chalkboard that he bought. I paid close attention to his lesson, but eventually my lack of sleep caught up with me and I stumbled to bed with a smile on my face. It had been a productive day.

That night, I dreamed about the dark encompass of space.


	13. Chapter 11- Grave Gaffe

_Vice Hero_

 _ARC 4 - The Price of Knowledge_

 _CHAPTER 11 - Grave Gaffe_

 _AN- I really need to put more effort into naming things and maybe add story arcs. Getting closer to the big rewrite. I've been plucking away a little at it and have some minor changes in mind. This chapter feels really incomplete to me, but I'd rather get it out there than focus too much on making it perfect. Will add on more for sure. Had wisdom teeth problems that I'm just getting over. Just more motivation for the edit._

 _Working on formatting which is why everything is taking longer than expected._

* * *

I jolt awake from the strange dream by a shaking sensation.

' _What was that dream all about?'_

I blearily sat up, unaware of what was happening for one brief and terrifying instant. The darkness around the camp was disorienting and made me startle. It was nothing like the darkness _before_. The darkness of not being aware, yet still being there. The images I saw before were dancing in front of me. Everything seemed out of focus and distant, but as I rubbed my eyes I grew more aware of everything around me, the sleep falling from my eyes. I shake my head fully clearing my mind.

Right, it must be my turn to keep watch.

I yawn and stretch while getting up, shaking off the last vestiges of sleepiness and putting on warmer clothes. Rilo, who was nothing but a dark form in the dim light, retreated to his tent mumbling something along the lines of nothing exciting happening.

"Sleep well." I grumbled towards his back while stretching, earning a similar grumble in reply.

The lantern we used throughout the night was dimmed and casting long shadows on the grassy field. This outing would almost seem like camping if it weren't for the fact that I was staying up to keep watch for monsters wanting to take advantage of the night to eat us. It was a chilling thought and woke me up realizing that monsters could be right outside my vision, waiting.

I pushed myself off the ground and slowly encircled the camp, branching out further to get a bigger range and better understanding of the surroundings. Keeping watch is an important job though it's mindlessly boring. I wouldn't put a little bit of light stopping a stubborn monster from attacking us, so I went further outside the range of the lantern to adjust to the darkness and get my bearings. After several minutes of scanning both visually and with sense I decided to head back. Satisfied that nothing was in the near vicinity, I walked into camp with my newest materia clutched tightly in my hand.

Steal. Now _this_ was going to be fun to figure out and understand. I looked it over, casually inspecting it while sitting in my customary cross-legged position to help me concentrate. There was no way to differentiate it from sense by sight or feeling alone. So it could be possible that I've been scammed by the store owner. I shrugged, preparing myself for just that scenario, but there was really only one way to find out. I knew that the nature of materia was reliant on the crystalline structure inside of it to dictate what properties it has, but I was expecting to see _something_ to tell it apart from the other command materia, not this. I offhandedly made sure to keep sense closeby while I tried to figure out what this materia did. It wouldn't do to get so engrossed that I neglect the job that I'm supposed to be doing.

I slowly channel a small amount of mako into the yellow orb. I feel the feedback, the conversion, the rush of altered mako _back_. It was disconcerting feeling the mako spread to my hands and eyes almost like syrup, much like sense would. It was uncomfortable, but I managed to adjust to it easily enough without cutting the connection like I had to the first times with my other materia. I was proud of that small achievement. I was adjusting to the feeling of _magic._ I never thought I would be able to say that.

With wide eyes I looked around, trying to figure out what changed with the introduction of the altered mako, but it was difficult to tell just _what_ it did to me. That was discerning When nothing obvious made itself known I decided to turn my attention away from eyesight. To the tactile aspect that it must've changed. I mean it was _steal_ , it raised dexterity just by equipping it.

Shrugging, I then focus on my hands. My hands felt...odd. A slightly numb feeling from the constant mako flow; other than that it was a much different experience than using cover. Where cover locked, steal seemed to almost...relax my digits. It was hard to describe accurately much like all magic. ' _Maybe the loose feeling you get after stretching out your hand with exercises, but to a greater extent?_ '

I idly brought out a Kalm Fang knife and started to twirl it around several different ways around my hand. There were several exercises that I practiced regularly for a better understanding of handling my knives. It would help get accustomed to the new weight and size. The exercises also had the added benefit of being fun to learn and play with in my free time. Going through the motions _now_ though was laughably easy I noted. Even in the dim light I could easily manipulate the knife however I wanted. I started to flip it around my fingers much like a pen, and was surprised when they bent back further than expected to accommodate the large size of the knife.

A smile blossoms on my face. "Well that's interesting." I briefly played with them bending them back further and feeling no twinge of pain. It was eerie touching my fingers to the back of my wrist with no discomfort aside from the mako. Very interesting.

It was hard to tell what else it exactly did, but the materia seemed to work. It was strange what it did. Loose fingers for an easier time picking pockets? I would have to figure out just _how_ to incorporate the increased digit manipulation into fighting. _If_ I even could.

I'm sure with a little bit of creativity it would be possible. I dubbed the strange feeling noodle digits, because it was just so easy to handle things and it didn't feel entirely natural. I dumped more mako into it, interested to see what would happen, and was surprised when I lost control of my hand. I was still handling the knife but my entire hand seemed to _blur_ and I lost track as it almost flickered out of my vision _._ A dull sound could be heard and my wrist popped painfully, making me hiss in pain and drop the knife—more out of surprise than pain.

I instantly cut the connection and wondered what the hell that was about while rubbing the tender spot. Looking down my wrist was swollen, red, and angry looking—about what I expected. The loss of control was surprising and I couldn't see a reason for it. I rubbed my wrist and circulated mako to start the healing process. On second thought, it might be better if I could get Rilo to help me understand the materia and avoid accidents like this from happening. One mistake was more than I could afford right now. Quite literally with our lack of potions.

I didn't have a clear idea on what the materia did, even after tampering with it. Getting Rilo to use it would help understand the effect and have a second opinion of what it did. So far the altered mako seemed to increase my dexterity, but that could just be from introducing a bit of mako into the orb. Much like an independent materia operates.

Reaching over I pick up the sense materia and send a small burst into it scouting out the surrounding area. I freeze up sensing something was off.

 _Something near._

I stand up, instantly alert and scanning my surroundings. It hadn't even been five minutes since I've been playing...working on figuring out the materia. Couldn't tell how long It had been since on watch with no way to tell time other than the sun. I look around but don't notice anything out of the ordinary at first glance, just darkness and the outline of rocks scattered throughout the field. I pour more mako into sense and my eyes in an attempt to find out more information. Nothing useful was gained. Just the feeling that something was _there_ getting more prominent.

I debated on going out and finding the threat. It would let Rilo sleep in more, then realized that was a horrible and stupid idea. Honestly not one of my better ones. Going out alone into the darkness to check on a weird feeling. Yeah, no thanks. If this was a horror movie that would just be asking for a cliche death. Instead I deemed to do the smart thing.

In remanence of Scotch; I called for help. "Hey Rilo, get up. We got company." I whispered loudly towards him. Instantly stirring was heard from Rilo's tent. I could only hope that it was enough to wake him up. Something else must've heard as well because the sound of quick footsteps were heading our way, and fast.

I pulled out my new knives. Whatever was incoming would be upon us before I could get a clear shot. I wasn't good enough to be shooting at footsteps in the dark anyways. I needed to stop the incoming attack and give Rilo time to prepare. An idea formed, and I pulled out a materia.

I circulated mako inside of me, through the lightning materia, and aimed straight up. Shutting my eyes closed at the same time.

 _KKRRAAck_

A small flash of light illuminated the area around the camp painfully bright. Even through my shut eyelids. If Rilo wasn't up before, he would be now. I saw our two intruders, they looked blinded and had to pull back from their charge. I instantly recognized what they were.

Levrikons—they looked like a medium sized mixture of roosters and ostriches. Strong looking legs, sharp beaks, and thankfully useless wings. The birds of prey were stunned by the flash of light stumbling around. I took the time to pocket the materia—now understanding why materia slots were a thing. To avoid having to think about falling and crushing them in the middle of battle and free up hand space.

As soon as they were reorientated from the impromptu flashbang, they both attacked Rilo who was just leaving his tent.

I cried out a warning as one of the birds reached Rilo—just as he was stepping out of his tent. It seems they weren't stunned for long enough. Maybe three seconds. Truly terrifying. With a shout Rilo hastily brought his sword to block the kick aimed at his head, stopping the blow at the last second. The block earned a deep cut on the bird's talon, causing it to jump back awkwardly.

They had aimed a two pronged attack on him, and it was obvious he hadn't yet realized it. Before the other attacker could take advantage of Rilo stumbling back from the blow I kicked off the ground to intercept it circulating mako n my legs for enhanced speed. A squawk from it's partner alerted it to what was happening. It readjusted it's course and turned to face me.

I took a swipe at the monster's neck with both my daggers in a cross chop, aiming to cut through the slim looking neck in one go. I poured mako into my arms and felt my swing speed increase as my dagger traced through the empty air almost whistling.

If it had connected it would've ended this fight quickly and messily. I cursed as I didn't feel the blow connect and reorientated myself after the abrupt speed.

Taking advantage of me having to get reorientated, the creature reared its head back in a quick jerking motion, eyes focusing in on me with deadly intent. It hissed deeply while slowly backing away. It sounded much like a large snake, putting me on edge as I watched it slink back into the darkness. It's eyes reflected the small amount of light from the lamp making it easy to track.

A quick glance to the side showed Rilo ineffectively swiping at his enemy, his attacks always coming up short. The raptor would easily step away, covering a large amount of distance seamlessly—even with it's injured foot. It suddenly clicked about what was happening here. About why this fight isn't over in an instant like all of our other ones have been so far. It wasn't that the enemy was tougher or stronger than us. It was simpler.

Stride.

SImply put, the monsters had a much longer stride length than us humans. We had been fighting enemies such as wolves and hobgoblins—stupid creatures which we were used to fighting. We easily outclassed the basic creatures. The new enemy type was throwing us off. The birds in front of us was nothing but legs and neck making it easy for them to dart in and out of our effective weapon range. Looking back at my avian opponent showed that it was taking the opportunity I presented when looking away to rush. I couldn't underestimate them. These birds were smart. Showing coordination and tactics. Not simple monsters at all.

I glance down uneasily at my daggers, this would be a tough fight with my short reach. The monsters would brutally utilize its advantage and there wouldn't be too much that I could do about it. No way I could get in close easily, switch weapons, or use materia. It would attack the moment it saw an opening then dart away. The daggers had worked well so far, but this would be a test of how much skill I had gained using them.

I needed to stop getting distracted while in the middle of fights. I couldn't afford to take avoidable injuries with the potion shortage. I didn't have the drug fueled focus that I grew accustomed to. With a sigh I ready my daggers at the charging bird of prey, fully preparing myself for the fight ahead. I take a deep breath to clear my thoughts of distractions during the small respite.

Focus. Aware. React.

Opponent dozen feet away and charging. Trace opponent with tips of daggers. One pointed at main center mass. One ready to parry feet. Opponent puffs up chest and rises to full height. Stretching it's neck to look me directly in the eyes and hiss. Intimidation unsuccessful. There is a keen, calculating intelligence behind those eyes. A flash of movement catches my attention. I lash out in a crude parry and dive away from the kick that I was suspecting.

A feint. I quickly roll to recover before it can press its advantage. The monster is now slightly limping from the attack. Another ruse? These birds are crafty and Rilo's opponent has been fighting fine. We stare at each other from several feet away. The bird is still limping but I don't rise to the bait. I flood mako into sense, analyzing my opponent. It must weigh just over a hundred pounds. The sound of battle could be heard from the other side of camp. Grunting, hissing, and the whine of a blade fill the air. Our stare off lasts for several seconds before the bird glances towards the sounds. I push off the ground at the slight opening, using the birds tactic against it.

A squawk is heard from RIlo's opponent and my opponent easily dances out of reach before I can fully close the distance. I let out a growl in frustration. If this was the slums then something else would've investigated this commotion and created an opening for me to either finish the fight or slip away. I pull up from my dash and we resume our standoff. The bird hops from foot to foot ready to dodge in any direction. I take several steps towards it, only for it to maintain the distance. I pale when I realized what it was doing. It was keeping me occupied while it's partner whittled away at Rilo. He wasn't doing as well as me. I listened closely and heard his hard breathing, giving away that he was tired from holding back his opponent.

' _How would I create an opening here? The easiest way would be to take a hit and give one in return. I'm a bit skeptical of that working. Distract and bring my gun to bear? Feasible. It didn't seem intent on letting me close the distance. I could use that against it. I still had several Whole Eater teeth that I could throw.'_ I mused. The plan quickly forming in my head.

I quickly sheethe the kalm fangs and bring out the smaller, needle-like teeth from the pockets lining my jacket. The Levrikon made to attack when it saw me put away my weapons, but backed off seeing I was armed again. It looked me over curiously, it's head tilting back and forth with a small chortle in its throat.

I charged. I wouldn't be toyed with like this. The monster squawked and predictably backed away further from the other battle going on and the small amount of light. Perfect. I pulled up to a stop and slung both daggers at the bird in succession. It easily sidestepped the first throw, and then the second. That distraction gave me the time I needed to scrabble the gun off my back and ready it.

I smirked. _'Wrong move. Looks like I win.'_ I centered it down my sights.

It squawked realizing its mistake and began to charge at me. It was too late. It covered the ground fast with it's long stride, but that didn't help when I fired off several quick bursts. Bullets ripped through its unarmored body. Several red holes appeared making it stumbled and spill onto the ground. It landed with a small crash kicking up dirt and grass.

It weakly started huffing and attempting to stand back up on shaky legs, but failed. I hefted my gun again to put an end to it's suffering when I heard a shout. It was hard to focus in on anything but the writhing bird in front of me. Each and every one of it's moves seemed to drag my eyes towards it.

Oh right, sense.

I cut the connection to see how the other fight was going. My senses seemed to fold outwards. It was a bit disorienting and took me a second to figure out what was going on.

Rilo's panicked voice filled my ears. "-towards you! Watch out!"

Instantly, I was blindsided and felt a sharp pain lance through my shoulder. I spin and hit the ground heavily, rolling away to avoid further attacks. A loud hiss was heard as I pushed myself off the ground and into a crouch. I lost my gun getting blindsided like that and quickly drew my daggers. It was hard to make out the imposing form of the bird in the darkness. I activated sense and quickly made out its eyes.

Sense _screamed_ at me to move. I threw myself to the side to avoid another kick. I had no time to recover before the scream sounded again telling me to dodge. I rolled out of the way of the attack—once again barely in time. The bird seems enraged that I managed to take down it's partner and threw away caution, pressing me. It also wasn't worried about maintaining a safe distance from my weapons. When it next came in to try to skewer me with it's beak I whipped my knife out and slashed down on the neck, flaring my arms with mako.

The knife cut into, but not through, the birds elongated neck. Leaving a bright red line behind from my attack which quickly started bleeding. I quickly hopped away and crouched down, ready to dodge away. It would bleed out quickly, but the fight wasn't over yet. Looking down at the whole eater tooth that failed to do enough damage for the kill, then glancing back at the infuriated bird.

It brought itself up to it's full height, just several inches over my head, and I prepared myself for the incoming attack. Instead, with a yell, Rilo came out of nowhere and sliced through it's neck severing the head. I noticed with a hint of jealousy that it was a straight, clean cut. Unlike the jagged slashes and punctures left by my daggers. The headless body slumped like its strings were cut and fell bonelessly on the ground.

I stand up and nod towards Rilo with a grin plastered on my face. Happy for the sudden and well timed intervention. "Well that could've gone worse. I'd say it went pretty well all things considered. Good job." I let a laugh out, happy that this encounter didn't end with us any the worse for wear. Sure I could pick apart everything that went wrong and how it went wrong, but that's a sure way to get somebody pissed off at you. This was our first real fight. The sense of danger much higher than the other monsters we faced off against. The only injuries were several cuts and bruises scattered over Rilo. My shoulder was still smarting from the blindside but I started to circulate mako. There were no serious injuries surprisingly.

He nods and smiles. Obviously pleased to have been fighting. "Want me to finish off the other one?" A quick look shows it still trying to stand. Death by gunfire is not a pleasant way to go. Choking on your own blood and feeling your body fail to function properly. It needed a quick death, not this flailing on the ground.

I debated it over, then decided. "No, it was my fight. I'm going to be the one to finish it. Hand me your sword." He complied and handed me it. I took a moment to look it over. It was a nice blade, short for a longsword. More of a shortsword. About three feet in total, if not a bit more. I gave it a few test swings. It was light and easy to swing—a good quality sword. Running my fingers along it showed it to be extremely sharp.

Walking up to the downed bird filled me with apprehension. It looked up at me and hissed weakly, barely able to crane its neck up. It must've witnessed the death of its partner, but didn't seem to have any fight left in it. This was different than any fight aftermaths I had been in. I would almost always quickly leave the scene or otherwise take them down before they could suffer.

Here I was faced with what I caused.

Looking down at the weakly huffing creature reminded me of all those men at Corneo's mansion. The ones that I left behind. That was a result of me not being good enough to take them down quickly and cleanly. Resigning myself, I aimed at the neck, which was difficult in the dim light, and lined up the blow. Rilo watched on silently. With a swift chop, I quickly ended its suffering. I felt like it should've been more eventful, more impactful, but we were just left alone in camp with the addition of the new bodies.

It was still dark, but we would need to move locations now. The blood would most likely attract other predators to our campsite so we couldn't just go back to sleep. I doubted we would be able to anyways. Faced between fighting off waves of enemies, or moving on, we quickly prepared to leave, wary about any new threats that might show up in the meantime.

Rilo quickly extracted all the parts that would earn us money and then we both left with no hesitation. We hurried quietly, leaving the scene of the attack behind us in the general direction we had been moving before. In hushed tones we debated about what we would do now. We weren't quite sure how long until sunrise, but we deemed to start traveling for the day. I was tired from the lack of rest, but flushing mako through my system helped with staying awake. I just needed one good night of rest to fully recover. That would come at the chocobo ranch.

Until then we would have to push through.

* * *

We made the decision to walk throughout the rest of the night.

I doubted that either of us would really sleep much after all the excitement. We walked for a good distance slightly tense throughout the night. When the sun came up I brought out the map and orientated myself with its rising position. The direction we had been walking was slightly off and I made minute adjustments to our direction. _'At least we didn't go the completely wrong way. It would be dangerously easy to get lost with no clear paths out in the wild like this.'_ I thought. Other than that we made good time, even if we were slightly tired from not getting a full night's sleep.

We soon came upon a dusty road in the middle of a grassy field. I knew that foot travel was the main mode of transportation outside of Midgar to get from place to place, but what I didn't know was the amount of other people on the foot trails. It seemed like every hour or two we would see a group of people. Anytime they would head towards us from the distance I would tense. Too reminded of my encounter with Reno. I always expected the worst seeing the silhouette of people traveling towards Kalm slowly crawl towards us.

It seemed that because more people traveled on the road, monsters were regularly cleared out- who would've thought? I didn't catch sight of the miniature elephant monsters or the ground squirrel ones. Apparently both were pretty docile and didn't stray much from their territory. That was a shame. It always fascinates me seeing other life. To see how similar the creatures were to Earth. Even when the alien life is trying to kill me it's fun to think of how the introduction of mako and the lifestream changed things.

The day was passing by without much excitement. Just several fights against Levirkons and a couple encounters with people passing by. They were much easier to fight when it was day and we could see them coming from a distance. The monsters that is, even if I always sized up the people we passed. It just made it that much more embarrassing with how much we struggled against them at first.

Rilo was surprisingly at ease around anybody that we passed by on the road, at least anybody that didn't outright avoid us. It was either the appearance of two armed strangers, or what I was wearing that set strangers on edge. Even outside Midgar the Don seemed to have a reputation. ' _Maybe I should've changed into something more personalized at Kalm. It would help make more of an impression at least. Something to think about when we aren't traveling.'_

Rilo would go up and talk to people as easily as he would jump into a fight while I just stood off to the side, trying my best to look unimposing. They would trade useful information such as expected weather, monster sightings, and how much further until the chocobo ranch. We weren't far off, we would make it by the end of the day, if not earlier. We were effectively a day ahead of the Cloud group now. That would only get further the harder we pressed on.

Rilo would _always_ see them off with a smile and wave. I was slightly uncomfortable with how friendly he seemed to be around people. I didn't remember him like this. He almost seemed like a different person from what I saw of him in the sector 5 slums. I was even more uncomfortable with him telling _every single person_ we came across our names. He would make it a point to somehow bring it up in conversations, even when it wasn't asked. It was like he was trying to build up a reputation or something ridiculous like that. I didn't oppose it. Maybe word of mouth would reach back to Cloud and them—it brought a smile to my face thinking about it at least. I was torn between anonymity and making a name for myself. ' _Well so far it seems that I haven't really had a choice about blending in. Right from the start I've been watched, so no sense on carrying on with trying to ease into the background.'_

One was practical and what I was used to. The other would guarantee Cloud and them hearing about me. Sure they would follow after Sephiroth, but I wanted to prove them wrong. It might be better to follow along with RIlo's plan. There were plenty of people who wanted to make a name for themselves by joining SOLDIER or something along those lines. We probably wouldn't stick out to the people we met at all. Anonymity by trying to stand out. I shook my head of the thoughts and continued jogging.

It was different traveling in this world, but not too strange and about what I expected. With the introduction of Mako people were a lot faster and stronger. On top of that they healed and recovered faster. That led to the most logical and practical way of traveling being jogging.

Jogging for hours on end without breaking a sweat. The only reason to stop is to check surroundings, let the lactic acid buildup in muscles get broken down by mako, and to give muscles time to repair. It wasn't strenuous at all, just boring. If anything the hours of running raised my spirits. It was a strange thing.

"Hey Vice, why'd you want to join the AVALANCHE terrorist group? First you talked to them in Sector 5 and then again outside the city. You don't really seem like the type to want to join a group." Rilo asks when we were taking a break from jogging. It was our first real 'break' with nothing happening. "They were the ones who attacked Shirna."

I shot him a questioning look. "I know that." I looked up. Thinking about where the question came from, and how to best answer. I always had to be careful about what I said and what I showed I knew. I felt that something bad would happen if I disclosed my knowledge. At the least his questions weren't pointed. "Look, you remember how you thought that working for the Don was a good idea?" He slowly nods, and I take that as my cue to continue. "It's the same situation with Shinra. They probably aren't as good as you think they are. AVALANCHE realized it and so did I."

Judging by the expression on his face he was having trouble believing what I said. I had to remember that he grew up on Shinra propaganda and didn't have the unique perspective I did. It was honestly a tough thing to keep in mind. Just look in the right places and you'd see how _wrong_ the company was, but how easy those things could be overlooked. Some, though, you'd have to blatantly ignore. Like how the Don was a known affiliate of Shinra.

"Why would you think that?" He asks defensively.

I took a moment to carefully think. I didn't know Rilo well enough to really know how he'd react. He could very well be someone who loves Shinra, even if he did grow up in the slums and should by all means hate them, and turn on me the first chance he gets. Fuck, the Turks could've got to him. Hell, most people didn't like Shinra but considered it a necessary evil. If you went against Shinra, then you must be an enemy of humanity. _'You are either with them or against them.'_

Shirna was the reason that so many technological breakthroughs and land expansions have happened to humans in the past century. They could be one of the sole unifying forces for humanity, barring Wutai. Actually, now that I thought about it, Shinra did _a lot_ of good—a lot of necessary evil along with it though. I needed to give him something that he could easily agree with, something that isn't outlandish and that I could prove.

Something that was obvious, now that I was thinking about it.

"Aerith was kidnapped by Shinra." I simply state. "Why else do you think she was outside Midgar with _them_? AVALANCHE rescued her from Shinra HQ. I wanted to be a part of it, but they didn't trust me." The best part was that it was all _true_. I wouldn't need to make up an excuse or twist the truth at all. If he asked for more proof then I wouldn't be able to pick out anything more convenient.

He had a stunned expression on his face and I couldn't help but laugh. He was probably picturing the nice and sweet Aerith joining a hardened terrorist group. Or what Shinra could even want with her. It was kind of hard to believe. The local flower girl opposing a globally spanned power company.

He gave a grimace, but I could see the point when he considered that it might just be true. We were just resting in the middle of the path standing around. "So what will you do since they wouldn't let you join? You've got to have some plan since we're still traveling past Kalm and not just heading back to Midgar. Dad said you were going to go through the mines. So, are you going to join up at Fort Condor, cause that's really the only thing past there? The people at Kalm were saying that they were looking to recruit mercenaries. That they were going to fight Shinra since they've been having so many problems lately. It'd be a good place to learn how to fight better, learn some techniques, and get paid for it. They might even have some good equipment for us."

I paused, _'That's actually a pretty good idea.'_ turning the thought over in my head and going over 's idea had extremely good merit. If we weren't on a time restraint, and I didn't know what to do, it would probably be what I did next. The parallel between our choices and practical way of thinking was a bit eerie. He was right about Fort Condor breaking off from Shinra control. I don't think that you could find that out from the game, and it was a useful piece of information.

It seems I couldn't overlook the power of gossip.

The Shinra fort housing the Mako Reactor was trying to save the Condor nest that earned its iconic namesake. It seems they were taking advantage of the HQ attack to break off from Shinra.

"No. Not Fort Condor. We're probably going to stop by and resupply there, but we can't stay for long. We're going to Junon. Then to Costa del Sol from there. Not really sure what's after that honestly." I told him.

His face lights up learning about the extremely vague plan. I truly was amazed that he would follow me without fully knowing what I was doing or where I was going, I don't think that I could follow a half-baked plan like that. Was it some sense of paying me back? Wanderlust? A sense of adventure? I wasn't sure. It was still so strange to have somebody following _me_ around.

"Hey Vice. You'll have my back, no matter what right? Just like at the Don's mansion?" He asks worriedly. Another point towards me not being entirely sure what he was thinking about. He did look slightly nervous. Not being in the game, his motives remained unknown to me.

I nod. "Of course." Surprisingly I meant it. We hadn't spent much time together at all, but I felt like I was getting to know him better. We were a lot alike in many ways. He also kept me grounded. He was a person who _wasn't_ in the game at all. A constant reminder to the fact that things _weren't_ the same as in the game. Just like my name I needed a constant reminder or I might get distracted.

Well, whatever his motives, we would be reaching the Chocobo Farm very soon. There were several houses that we passed. Farmers riding chocobos carrying shotguns were seen patrolling in the distance. Several more houses and barns dotted the landscape, but the directions given to us made it very clear Chocobo Farm was at the end of the dirt path. Also very clear not to trespass and head straight to Choco Bill.

It was all worrying to think about, especially since things have been put into a different perspective for me. Not everything was as it seemed. Even knowing the game I'd have to tread carefully. Apparently, Shinra HQ getting attacked was a bigger deal than the game played it out to be.

As long as we just stayed for the night everything would be fine come morning.

* * *

We eventually made it to the farm without much fanfare. It was starting to get late. Dusk was upon us. The rustic looking Chocobo Farm was sticking out like a sore thumb in the basic looking landscape. We passed by several other similar looking places, but none of them were _the_ Chocobo Farm. Strangely, I didn't put much thought to the farm not being exactly like the game. I figured I accepted the lack of continuity sometime during our walk through Kalm. _'Strange how when constantly confronted with things I can't explain I learned how to brush it off. If it was me when I first got here I would've agonized over each and every little inconsistent thing.'_

We came across it right at the end of the road just as was said. I was surprised to see that the leader of the local farmers and ranchers was out tending to some of his Chocobos. Choco Bill. He kind of looked like a gray Chocobo with his spiky hair and beard. The hardened looking old man had a reputation behind him. Not so much of having a way with Chocobos: more so of being able to organize a huge farming operation like this in the wilderness without the protection of Shinra. He was equivalent to the Don with how much was under his control, if not more so. He didn't look like it tending to a proud looking chocobo—one that was most likely the alpha of the pack.

In fact, looking closer and at it's placement compared to the herd—it was the same one that gives you the summon materia in the game. _'I wonder what they would think of me if I tried getting the materia from it. I can't really just go up to it WARK!-ing without looking crazy. Besides, Cloud is probably the only one who can somehow get it because of his hair or something ridiculous like that.'_

Once again I was left wondering just _why_ they were the planets chosen. I was still going to try to get the summon materia if there was a chance. Just not around people.

"Hey farmer guy! Do you know if this is the place we need to go? Chocobo Farm?" Rilo calls out as we walk closer, dragging me out of my thoughts. I wince at his tone, wondering what he was up to. Now _there_ was the Rilo I remembered, sounding slightly arrogant.

I walk slightly behind Rilo, letting him take control of the situation as we neared what I was now positive Choco Bill. He knew that all we really needed was a place to sleep—so far Rilo had been amicable towards everybody we met, but his tone had me on edge. _'What are you getting at?'_ I wondered. My curiosity got the better of me and I didn't step in.

Choco Bill took a moment to look up from his work, giving Rilo a glare. His eyes lingered over me, then his attention snapped back to Rilo. "That's right. This is Chocobo Farm. Are you city boys thinking about crossing the marshes near here?"

Rilo straightens himself up, as if expecting the question, then adjusts his sword. "We need a place to stay before trying to make it across." He chuckles to himself. "It's dangerous out there at night, but nothing we can't handle."

The man just nods along, eyes flickering between us. "Hmmmm. I'll let you know that it'll be better if you get a Chocobo before crossing. That way you won't have any trouble crossing at all. It's the _only_ way to get across without getting attacked by the monster that recently moved in. If you want to know more go talk to my grandson, Choco Billy." He made known, then focused back on his work. The Chocobos were all staring warily at us in their pen.

When I saw Rilo bristle I knew there was going to be trouble. I reached out towards him to rein him in—

"What do you mean it's the _only_ way." Rilo states coldly while moving his hand towards his blade.

Too late. I think I knew where this was going now.

The man postured himself to his full height. Absentmindedly stroking the now agitated chocobo, seemingly paying no attention to Rilo. The commotion seemed to have the bird on edge. He glanced over at Rilo curiously. "Have you heard of the Midgar Zolom that moved in? It's a giant snake over thirty feet tall that's claimed the marsh as it's feeding ground. It's a lot more dangerous than anything around here. I just don't have the manpower to launch an expedition against it with the commotion in Midgar. If you want to die feel free trying to cross the marsh without a chocobo or killing the _snakes_ yourself." he spits out. Obviously displeased about being talked down to, or even being questioned.

"Have you heard of the access path to the mines?" Rilo quips back. Steel is in his voice. Accusation clear.

Choco Bill fumbled soothing the bird, making it obliquely obvious that he knew what Rilo was talking about. With it, I had a sinking feeling that things were about to spiral out of control. I yanked Rilo back behind me, pissed off that he was going to cause trouble over this. Suddenly finding myself under the scrutiny of the man I schooled my features. _'What was he thinking?'_

I cleared my throat, hoping to smooth things over. "Sorry sir, he didn't mean anything about it. Just forget we said anything and we'll be out of here tomorrow. In fact, we can leave now if you'd rather us not bother you." I ground out, anything to avoid trouble. He looked me up and down, as if trying to find something out of place.

He shakes his head. "No, I wouldn't turn away one of the Don's men. Do you have anything to report? Donald usually doesn't send men out here unless he wants something." he asks.

I pale realizing what he meant. My fingers going cold as my fist clenched. Looking down at what I was wearing showed the lackey uniform that I'd had for quite some time now. _'Of course he would know the Don somehow. On a first name basis too. Why, oh why, didn't I change out of this uniform the first chance I had.'_ I never thought that clothes would be my undoing. Somehow I would have to bullshit my way through this. Hopefully this wouldn't end in bullets and blood.

I took a second to organize my thoughts. "Just letting you know what happened. A terrorist attack by AVALANCHE took out the Don's mansion. It was a bombing incident just like with the Mako reactors. The last I heard the Don was making his way to Wutai to hide out until things blow over. We are making our way to Junon to enlist in the military for training."I said with the best poker face I could manage.

He cursed. Meanwhile, I was sweating bullets. If I somehow made it through this without things getting too out of hand I was going to burn this damn uniform. Too much trouble was had because of it. Somehow Choco Bill had ties to the Don, and he thought that I did too. Very inconvenient.

"No wonder things have been so hectic in Midgar lately. What about the Don's second in command...Scotch was it? It's been quite awhile." he questioned me.

An image of Scotch splayed out with blood pooled around him popped into my head. The aftermath of our fight had caused an uproar when it was discovered. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. _'I'm surprised that he didn't hear about it at all.'_ I mused.

I didn't hesitate to reply. "Dead. They're still looking for the killer and getting things reorganized for when the Don comes back." I easily lied. I had no idea what the Don's men were doing and frankly didn't care in the slightest. I just needed to say something to avoid suspicion.

"How hard could it be to find one slum rat? What was the name of the person who attacked the mansion...Vice?"

I could feel Rilo tense up beside me. I paled further. He _had_ heard about the attack. ' _That fucking visitation form was going to haunt me forever, wasn't it? One mistake is all it takes to screw you over forever.'_ I internally cringed. I wasn't too worried, he didn't know who I was. I eyed Rilo suspiciously when he started to edge over towards me.

"I wonder what reward the Don would give if the perpetrator was caught." He asked casually, letting the question hang in the air. He turned a critical eye towards us.

My mind whirred trying to think of what he was getting at. _'Are we screwed? Does he somehow know or is he just guessing?'_ The entire time he was looking at us. I kept up my poker face, but I wasn't sure how Rilo was doing. I just hoped that he didn't do anything—

"VICE NOW!" Rilo yelled out. I winced at the sudden loud noise and sighed when I realized what was going on. By the time I was ready for a fight Rilo was already lashing out towards the man in a quick draw with his sword. I at least managed to dig into my backpack and pull out a speed while Rilo struggled to push back Choco Bill. I was entirely unsurprised when the man reached out and stopped the blade with one hand. _'Of course, the first sign that things aren't going his way and he resorts to violence.'_

I grin at the old man who is easily holding back Rilo's swing. "Any chance we can still spend the night here?" I cheekily ask. I expected things to go wrong somewhere and with the answer, right in front of me, I was feeling relief.

He laughs and then swats away Rilo like he weighed nothing, launching him through the wall of a shed. I winced at the groan I head coming from where Rilo landed. He slowly pulls on a pair of plated gloves. Close range specialist. Probably needed to handle the Chocobo.

"This will be fun." He lets out another laugh, "It's been too long since I've gotten into a proper fight."


End file.
